The Boterwaag is a former

weigh house A weighhouse or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights, and were often a large and representative ...

for butter in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands. The right half is a café.

History

The left-half of the building was designed by the architect-painter

Bartholomeus van Bassen Bartholomeus Corneliszoon van Bassen (1590–1652) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and architect. Biography Van Bassen was the illegitimate son of Cornelis van Bassen and the grandson of Bartholt Ernst van Bassen, who both lived and died in T ...

.Rijksmonument report He designed and built it in 1650, after the Prinsegracht canal was dug in 1640. He oversaw both projects in his role as city architect and headman of the

Guild of St. Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

. After he died in 1652, the local painters became dissatisfied with the guild and founded the

Confrerie Pictura The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there. History The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...

in 1656, which met upstairs. They shared their meeting room upstairs with the guild of apothecaries, and the city apothecary shop was across the street. In 1681 the right half was built as an extension, and new scales were installed inside that can still be seen by visitors to the café there. In 2013 a replica of the 17th-century brass bell was replaced on the facade that had been stolen in 1980s.Boterwaag bell back after 30 years
on Omroep West website File:Blaeu 1652 - 's Gravenhage.jpg, 1652 map of The Hague by

Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. Life In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they published ...

. The left half of the Boterwaag can be seen on the ''Princen Gracht''. File:De hal van de boterwaag - 's-Gravenhage - 20087586 - RCE.jpg, Inside the right half before restoration activity in 1980. File:Prinsegracht Den Haag 028.JPG, Gable stone with butter vats

References

{{reflist Painters from The Hague Weigh houses Rijksmonuments in The Hague History of The Hague