The present large Catholic church, also dedicated to St James the Greater, is located on Parkstrasse. Characteristic too is the ancient church of the Dominicans, founded in 1397, known as the Klooster Kerk (cloister church).
The Mauritshuis, the former residence of John Maurice of Nassau, governor of Brazil, was built by B. van Bassen and A. van's Gravesande in 1636; after a fire in the 18th century it was restored and King William I founded there the Royal Museum of Painting, which houses one of the most important collections of Flemish paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries, together with some Italian and Spanish examples. Among the 17 Rembrandts in this Museum, the foremost is the Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (1632). The Museum also contains works by the following Dutch painters: D. Terniers the Younger, Jan Brueghel, A. Van Dyck, J. and A. van Ostade, C. Fabritius, J. van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, P. Potter, J. Vermeer. The Municipal Historical Museum (Historisch-Museum der Gemeente), housed in the former guildhall of the Confraternity of St Sebastian’s Archers (1636), contains archaeological and historical collections.
The Kröller Museum is the most notable gallery of modern art in all Holland, rich in paintings not only of the Dutch school but also of foreign schools, especially the French. The H. W. Mesdag Museum, named after the painter who donated it to the State in 1903, comprises a rich collection of modern paintings, Chinese, Japanese, Arab and Persian vases and bronzes.
The Meermann Westreenianum Museum contains a collection of art objects, manuscripts, incunabula and coins bequeathed in 1816 by Count Meermann and in 1858 by Baron Westerren.
The Royal Library contains more than 500,000 volumes, valuable manuscripts and incunabula, with an annexed numismatic cabinet and a rich collection of cameos. Towards Scheveningen, on a design by the Belgian architect Cordonnier, the Peace Palace was erected between 1907 and 1913. — See pl. L.