Herinneringsroute Atlantikwall Den Haag
Museon is located on the route of an anti-tank ditch
Before the German occupation authorities began building the Atlantic Wall, the Kunstmuseum stood at the junction of Stadhouderslaan and Cornelis de Wittlaan (a road with traffic lanes on either side of the Haagse Beek watercourse). On the opposite corner was the Martelaren van Gorcumkerk, a church built in 1925 and dedicated to the Catholic Martyrs of Gorkum.
On the other side of Stadhouderslaan, Cornelis de Wittlaan ran into Stadhoudersplein. The 1902 school building that still faces the Gemeentemuseum stood on the corner of this square. During the war, the area on the city side of the school building and the Gemeentemuseum became a broad stretch of desolate wasteland over three hundred metres wide. The Haagse Beek became the basis for a zigzag anti-tank ditch that ended immediately behind the Gemeentemuseum. The area’s residents were evacuated and all the buildings, including the church, were demolished.
Today’s Museon stands on the route of the anti-tank ditch.
Photographed
