Rijksmuseum the Prison Gate

The Prison Gate Museum in The Hague tells the story of crime and punishment from the 15th to the 19th century. Four centuries of imprisonment, interrogation and punishment.

This building was once the main entrance to the castle of the Counts of Holland, the Binnenhof (now the seat of Parliament). In the 15th century the medieval gate became the most important prison of the powerful Dutch court. Later, the gate was expanded with gaols (prison cells) and the courthouse. The suspects were incarcerated in the dark prisons. Here they waited to be interrogated and sentenced. It was in the torture chamber that they were forced to confess.