Sunday, May 11, 2008
's-Gravenhage: het grootste dorp van Europa
In the last post (of mine) I was showing the weird way the Dutch had in defining their Capital (even if I discovered that many Capitals, not least Rome, for long time have had not constitutional status of being a Capital. But still you'd agree that putting the Government, the Queen's house or at least the Court of Justice in the Capital city would have helped in identifying it).But I discovered something more about the "non capital" of The Netherlands.
This is 's-Gravenhage (literally: the Count's Hedge), nicknamed Den Haag with grateful permissiveness.
In the last post I was showing that the old capital of the richest province of Holland had to give up the title of Capital of The Netherlands, in favor of Amsterdam, because of concerns and envy from the other province's capitals.
But this was not the only curse of this city.
In fact: Den Haag is not and never was a city!
I know this can sound silly, so let me explain.
Den Haag originated around 1230 when Floris IV, Count of Holland, chose that spot to make it his personal hunting residence.
Later the counts of Holland used Den Haag as their administrative center and residence and when the Dukes of Burgundy gained control over the counties of Holland and Zeeland they appointed a stadtholder to rule for them the States of Holland.
And so on and so on...
The problem was that at the beginning the other cities in Holland were afraid that Den Haag (the pet's teacher: the favorite of the Counts) would have gain too much power and take over the "district governing board" and rule them all.
So how could they set Den Haag apart of the council of cities?
Easy: not giving it the city right!
So for centuries (until 1798 when the city rights quit existing in the Lower Countries) Den Haag had a lot of civic privileges (such as having citizens, an urban governing board, a city guard and an annual fair) but never had the right to be called a city.
That's why it's still today called the largest village in Europe: het grootste dorp van Europa.
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4 comments:
"La possibilita` che esistano altri mondi e altre forme di vita non contrasta con la nostra fede perche' non possiamo porre limiti alla liberta' creatrice di Dio". Lo afferma il direttore della Specola Vaticana padre Jose' Gabriel Funes, in un'intervista all'Osservatore Romano, significativamente intitolata "L'extraterrestre e' mio fratello".
basta che non abortisca, altrimenti non andra` nell'extraparadiso degli extraterrestri.
e cmq, giusto per dimostrar che non sono solo mie fissazioni (anche se nemmeno alle mie future mogli sembra interessar l'annosa questione delle capitali europee), questo articolo racconta (in olandese) di come l'amministrazione comunale di Amsterdam si sia dimenticata lo scorso 20 Aprile di festeggiare il 200esimo anniversario di Amsterdam-capitale del regno.
Sembra che il sindaco abbia deciso di correre ai ripari e di organizzare a breve una festa riparatoria.
Visto?!?!?
Visto cosa? Visto che non frega veramente a nessuno, tanto che gli unici che potevano essere interessati si sono dimenticati................................
no: "visto!?!?" che avevo ragione a sottolineare il fatto che gli olandesi son "originali" anche nel definire le capitali.
"Ma cosa parlo a fare con voi che non sapete nemmeno" la bandiera della Friesland....
Maledetti
Mi faro` un blog personale aperto solo a me stesso e a pochi e selezionati intimi in cui discuteremo di vessilli e geopolitica tutto il giorno, faremo a gare a chi ce l'ha piu` grande (l'interesse per la geografia) e nel pomeriggio coloreremo bandiere e mangeremo marzapane.
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