Background Following the creation of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1899, its Founding States decided to build a dedicated courthouse to support the Court's mission and encourage States to resolve their disputes peacefully: the Peace Palace. The idea of the palace started from a discussion in 1900 between the Russian diplomat
Friedrich Martens and American diplomat White over providing a home for the
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
Andrew Dickson White, whose efforts were instrumental in creating the court, secured from Scottish-American steel magnate
Andrew Carnegie US$1.5 million ($, adjusted for inflation) to build the Peace Palace. White contacted
Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie had reservations, and at first was only interested in donating money for the establishment of a library of international law. White, however, was able to convince Carnegie, and in 1903 Carnegie agreed to donate the US$1.5 million ($, adjusted for inflation) needed to house the court as well as to endow it with a library of international law. White described his idea to Carnegie: "A temple of peace where the doors are open, in contrast to the
Janus-temple, in times of peace and closed in cases of war [...] as a worthy testimony of the people that, after many long centuries finally a court that has thrown open its doors for the peaceful settlement of differences between peoples". Were such a fabric to be created, men would make pilgrimages from all parts of the civilized world to see it. It would become a sort of holy place, prized and revered by thinking men throughout the world, and to which, in any danger of war between any two countries, the minds of men would turn naturally and normally. The main difficulty now is that the people of the various nations do not really know what was done for them by the Conference; but such a building would make them know it. It would be an "outward and visible sign" of the Court, which would make its actual, tangible existence known to the ends of the earth" :—
Andrew Dickson White to
Andrew Carnegie, 5 August 1902
Architectural competition In September 1903, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Netherlands established an Advisory and Preparatory Commission to launch an
open competition for the design of the courthouse. The Commission drafted a program of requirements for the architectural competition and visited prominent courthouses to determine the building's needs. At first Carnegie simply wanted to donate the money directly to the Dutch Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands for the building of the palace, but legal problems prohibited this, and in November 1903 the
Carnegie Stichting was founded to manage the construction and maintenance of the palace for the
Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1904, the newly created Carnegie Foundation assumed responsibility for the competition and issued the call for proposals in 1905, which led to the selection of French architect
Louis M. Cordonnier's design, set in the
Neo-Renaissance style, from among 216 entries. To build within budget, Cordonnier and his Dutch associate
J.A.G. van der Steur adjusted the design. The palace initially had two big bell towers in front and two small ones in the back. Only one big tower and one small tower remained in the final building. Also to save money, the separate library building from the winning design was incorporated into the palace itself. In 1908,
Thomas Hayton Mawson won a competition to design the grounds. Because of budget constraints, he also had to discard design elements: mountains and sculptures. He made use of a natural watercourse on the site.
Construction The palace is filled with many gifts of the Contracting Parties of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration who attended the
Second Hague Conference as a sign of their support for the Court's mission. Among the gifts are a vase from
Russia, doors from
Belgium, marble from
Italy, a fountain from
Denmark, wall carpets from
Japan, the clock for the clock tower from
Switzerland,
Persian rugs from
Persia, wood from
Malaysia,
Indonesia,
Brazil and the
United States of America and wrought-iron fences from
Germany. In 1907, the first stone was symbolically placed during the
Second Hague Conference. The construction began some months later and was completed with an inauguration ceremony on 28 August 1913, attended by the
Dutch Royal Family, members of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration,
Andrew Carnegie, diplomats, politicians and peace activists. During the ceremony, the key to the Peace Palace was handed over to the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, leading Andrew Carnegie to predict that the end of war was "as certain to come, and come soon, as day follows night." In 2007,
Queen Beatrix opened the new building for the Peace Palace Library of International Law, housing the entire catalogue of the library, a lecture hall and a new reading room in the bridge to the main building of the Peace Palace. Like the new Academy Hall, the library was designed by architects
Michael Wilford and . A Visitors Centre was added to the Peace Palace in 2012, which is also designed by Michael Wilford. In 2002, an
eternal peace flame was installed in front of its gates. The
European Heritage Label was awarded to the Peace Palace on 8 April 2014. File:Buste de Carnegie et plan originel du Palais de la Paix.jpg|Bust of Carnegie and the original plan of the Peace Palace File:Chairs of the PCA Contracting Parties.jpg|Chairs of the PCA Contracting Parties in the Administrative Council Chamber File:Peace palace main hall 1024.jpg|Inside the Peace Palace File:Main Hall of the Peace Palace.jpg|Main hall of the Peace Palace. The background is the entrance of the Courtroom of the International Court of Justice. ==Courts==