Construction of Peace Palace Visitor Centre begins

Construction of the future Visitor Centre (Poortgebouw) of the Peace Palace was festively kicked off on 22 February.

Artist's impression of Visitor Centre

The new Visitor Centre by the main entrance of the Peace Palace should be completed by the end of 2011. The Carnegie Foundation will erect a facility at the main entrance to the Peace Palace where a broad audience can learn about the role and importance of the Peace Palace and the institutions it houses.

The goal of the facility to become an eminent Visitor Centre providing information about the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration and serving as a gateway to the Peace Palace Library and The Hague Academy for International Law. The centre should also serve as a meeting place, the interface between the activities in the Peace Palace and the public interest in them.

As unobtrusive as possible

This facility will also become the entrance to the Peace Palace where security checks will take place. The boomerang-shaped building will be as unobtrusive as possible so as not to disturb the world-renowned image of the Peace Palace.

The ‘Poortgebouw/Visitor Centre’ project is made possible by the Municipality of The Hague, Kansen voor West, Nationaal Fonds voor Vrijheid en Veteranenzorg and the Carnegie Foundation. It was designed by Michael Wilford, architect of the Peace Palace Library building (2007), and will be built by Bakels & Ouwerkerk.