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Introduction

Welcome to The Peace Palace Library Centennial Exhibition

Room
 A painting by Christiaan de Moor, portraying Hugo de Groot and various other dignitaries. Photograph: Onno Kosters.

In 2004 the Dutch Carnegie Foundation in the Peace Palace in The Hague celebrated its 100th anniversary. Thanks to Andrew Carnegie's enthusiasm to provide a library for the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Peace Palace became the legal and scholarly institute it still is today. In one hundred years the library has grown from a small collection to one of the largest collections in the world in the field of international law, public and private international law, foreign national law, international relations and diplomatic history. And so, as Carnegie had intended, The Hague, the 'Legal Capital of the World', obtained its 'Center for International Legal Research'.

To celebrate the centennial, the staff of the Library is pleased to announce the publication of The Peace Palace Library Centennial Exhibition: The Collection as a Mirror of the Historical Development of International Law. This jubilee exhibition will cover all the periods in international law, from 17th-century books on the law of the sea and rare treaty series to the electronic documents of the UN online documents service; from arbitration in 1848 to modern arbitration, from International Criminal Law in 1880 to the present International Criminal Court; from Latin texts to French, English and even Chinese law books. Everybody interested in the development of a law collection through history into the present time will want to visit the exhibition for its biographical, bibliographical, historical and legal information.

Contents and navigation

  • In each chapter the table of contents is displayed in the left-hand margin. One may finish one chapter and continue with the next, but one can also jump from one chapter to another through hyperlinks connected to both chapters.
  • Move your mouse over the text, and clickable images as well as hyperlinks to detailed descriptions of titles and authors will be highlighted.
  • The search tool at the bottom of the table of contents allows for author, title and key word searches
    • .

    Please note

  • We have done our utmost to find biographies and images of every author mentioned. Unfortunately, we have not in all cases been able to get full and complete, reliable data. Therefore, some of the biographical or bibliographical data you will find are missing or still incomplete; please consider those missing links as invitations to supply any relevant material you have or will find in the future. Please send comments, suggestions or additional material to Alice de Jong
  • When you visit the exhibition from a browser located outside the Peace Palace Library and as from 1 January 2005 from inside the Library as well, unless you are licensed otherwise you will be disallowed to follow links to the the full Encyclopedia Britannica entries.
  • Until further notice this web exhibition is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer.

    The exhibition offers a dynamic, multi-level experience of international law, in which unexpected see-throughs reveal surprising vistas. It was designed and edited by Onno Kosters, with moral support and practical and technical assistance by the staff of the Peace Palace Library.

    • © Peace Palace Library, 2004
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