SCHEVENINGEN
the first pier
The first pier of Scheveningen, named Wandelhoofd Queen Wilhelmina, was opened by Prince Hendrik on 6 May 1901. This wooden construction on a steel base was located directly behind the Kurhaus.
From the hotel, a bridge was made over the boulevard so that hotel guests could walk down the 372 meter long and 8 meter wide promenade from the terrace. In the pavilion, which had a diameter of 37.7 meters and a height inside of 15.7 meters, 1200 visitors could enjoy music performances, plays and acrobatics. On the outside there were seven shops where fruits, cigars and refreshments could be bought. [ In 1940 the entrance fee was ƒ 0.15.
In the spring of 1942 Scheveningen became ‘Sperrgebiet’. The German occupier used the pavilion as storage and placed anti-aircraft guns on the pier. To complicate an invasion by the Allies, 30 meters of walking deck was removed and equipped with a suspension bridge. On 26 March 1943, the pavilion burned down completely.
After the fire, the Germans demolished the pier by sawing off the wooden structure of the poles, presumably because they were afraid that the pier could be used by the Allies in a sea invasion.
tHE BEGINNING
In 1818 Jacob Pronk founded a wooden pavilion with a bathhouse on the Verlengde Badhuisstraat, the opening was on July 15 of that year.
In 1828, on the initiative of the mayor, a much larger ‘Municipal bathhouse’ in classicist style was built, called Grand Hôtel des Bains after a design by city architect Zeger Reyers. The Municipal Bathhouse was so successful that in 1856 it was decided to expand the bathhouse. In the period from 1884 to 1885, the Kurhaus was built on the same site. After a fierce fire, it was rebuilt between 1886 and 1887. It was designed by the German architects Johann Friedrich Henkenhaf and Friedrich Ebert. From 1858-1882 François Gerard Abraham Gevers Deynoot was mayor of The Hague. The square in front of the Kurhaus was named after him in 1891.
In 1901, the Kurhaus was directly connected to the newly built hiking head (Pier). The number of sleeping places in Scheveningen has continued to grow since that time.
Scheveningen is especially in summer to a large extent dependent on day tourism from the Netherlands and Germany.
sCHEVENINGEN HARBOR
Sea fishing has determined the image of the village for hundreds of years. Scheveningen, like other coastal villages on the North Sea, did not have a seaport. That is why fishing vessels – first the little finger and in the course of the 19th century the type of bomb barge – sailed from the beach and landed with their catches on it. This fishery was mainly focused on catching flatfish and round fish.
From the middle of the 19th century, Scheveningen began to focus more and more on herring fishing. The logger also made its appearance as a fishing vessel there and after the arrival of its own seaport, opened in 1903, Scheveningen excelled for many years in fishing for herring by means of flatfish fishing. This lasted until the late sixties of the 20th century. From 1905 the fish had to be auctioned at the harbour (and no longer on the beach), but soon the fishermen complained about lack of space for it. In order to meet the complaints, a warehouse was put into use as a fish auction for the auctions in 1911, which was soon found to be too small.
Problems of overfishing in the North Sea, outdated fishing vessels and changed fishing techniques heralded the end of the large scale of local herring fishing. Nowadays, only a limited number of vessels fish for herring and then only for a short period of time.
The current Scheveningen fishing fleet consists of fifteen large to very large stern trawlers, some of which sail under foreign flags because of the allocated fishing quotas. These vessels fish all over the world. The fishing fleet also consists of five cutters, which often catch their fish in the North Sea. There are also some cutters that are registered in other Dutch fishing villages, but are owned by shipping company Jaczon, which, like shipping company W. van der Zwan, has Scheveningen as its home port.
traditional costumes
Fisherman’s monument Scheveningen with a woman in the regional dress.
A fisherman’s wife waiting for the return of husband and sons. She gazes over the beach and the sea.
The wearing of traditional costumes fell away from young women during the Second World War. The most obvious reason is the evacuation of the village from the end of 1942; the village became part of the German Atlantic Wall. One had to leave the coastal village and the closedness of the fishing community fell apart and with it the culture belonging to that community that included both the traditional costume and the dialect. In those years, young women saw peers elsewhere who did not know the pressure of the traditional costume and to whom they therefore wished to mirror themselves.
THE NEW PIER
The pier consists of a fully covered promenade with an open walking deck above it and three islands at the end. On the rear island on the right (the tower island) is a watchtower with a viewing platform at a height of 45 meters that – in ideal weather conditions – offers visibility up to 17 kilometers.
At the foot of it is a pancake restaurant and on the tower is a bungee jumping installation. In the building on the front island on the left (called solar island or South island) is a restaurant (Pier South). The steel island added to the pier afterwards was the furthest out to sea and was the only one not directly connected to the promenade, but to the solar island. Until its closure in February 1991, an attraction was housed here. The fireworks for the Scheveningen Fireworks Festival were also set off here for a number of years. These fireworks are now set off from a floating pontoon at sea. On the front island on the right (called pirate island or treasure island) there was a children-oriented amusement hall. The superstructure on this island was removed in 2015, pending the construction of a Ferris wheel. This Ferris wheel with the name Skyview De Pier was officially put into use in 2016.
