Essentially The Hague
Wednesday October 7, 2026
Good morning, The Hague. Today: beauty standards and resistance come under discussion at Open Boek, Rui Chafes and Giacometti meet in Gris Vide Cris III, and you can climb the 28-metre yellow tower at Uitzichtpunt Binnenhof.
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At a glance
🌦️ Weather: Hi 22°C / 71°F (1° warmer than yesterday) · Lo 14°C / 57°F · 19% chance of rain · wind NE 25 km/h (13 knots)
🚲 Cycling: Dry until about 19:00, wet after that.
🌙 Sun & moon: Sunrise 07:53 · Sunset 19:06 · Waning Crescent · Moonrise 03:45 · Golden hour 18:36 to 19:06
🌊 Outdoors: Air quality moderate (AQI 48) · grass pollen low
💶 Markets: AEX 1,128 (+0.4%) · S&P 500 7,829 (+0.7%) · €1 = $1.13 · $1 = €0.89
News
235 Moerwijk social homes renovated over two years: The homes around the Van Maerlantlaan were given new kitchens, bathrooms, balconies and window frames, plus full exterior insulation. Gas connections for cooking are gone, with the homes now on electric.
Criticism grows over fire crews no longer attending resuscitation calls: Four stations stopped turning out for resuscitation calls on 1 July. The research behind the decision also shows fire crews arriving first at almost every call in Maasdijk.
New book traces Uilennest residents' fight for quiet: Historian Pim Reinders spent years researching how the Benoordenhout pocket has stayed calm since the 1950s. Residents there blocked a garage, a caravan site and an American embassy.
120 hackers spend a day attacking The Hague's city systems: Eighty professional hackers and forty students spent a day trying to break into municipal systems. They found outdated updates and other weak points, most of which were fixed the same day.
Family / Children
Craft a custom jumping jack puppet at the library: Kids aged six and up illustrate custom clothes, footballs, or magic wands for their own moving figure. 7 October, 14:00 - 15:00, Centrale Bibliotheek. KIDS WORKSHOP
Ik ben Kikker, games from Max Velthuijs's picture books: Set on the second floor, with interactive games in Dutch and English and a crawl course built for babies. 7 October, 10:30, Kinderboekenmuseum. MUSEUM / EDUCATIONAL
De Apenbroodboom at Kooman's Poppentheater, for children from five: Wasco the raccoon helps out the postman with a parcel that turns up empty, in a puppet theatre playing since 1960. 7 October, 14:30, Kooman's Poppentheater. FAMILY SHOW
Ukkieconcert, forty-five minutes of songs and instruments for ones to fours: Toddlers listen, sing and move with a parent or carer, who needs a ticket too; changing instruments, games and rhythms. 7 October, 10:00, Muzee Scheveningen. FAMILY SHOW
Halloween chaos in Shaun het Schaap: Het Beest van de Boerderij: The third Shaun cinema film, 81 minutes, with a wrecked pumpkin field, a missing farmer and something in the woods. 7 October. FILM
1,800 pupils try drones and cranes at tech festival: Final-year primary school children from three municipalities spend 8 and 9 October at The Hague Tech. More than 40 schools signed up this year, against 25 last year.
Music
Multilingual folk guitar with Taba Chake: The singer and fingerstyle guitarist plays a live three-hour set blending Assamese, Nyishi, Hindi, and English lyrics. 7 October. THEATER
Time Jumper, Waylon's country and western swing with his band: Classic country, western swing, covers and personal stories with his regular band, drawing on an album cut with Nashville players. 7 October, 20:15, Theater de Veste. THEATER
Piano four hands at the Kloosterkerk pauzeconcert: Half an hour of classical music you can walk into, with a voluntary contribution collected afterwards and a livestream running. 7 October, 12:45, Kloosterkerk. DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Girlpower on Stage puts Clitteband and Peanut Butter Goldfish on: A punk night with two bands, one playing from a feminist and queer angle, the other postpunk with theatrical vocals. 7 October, 20:00, Musicon. DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Child's Play, Teus Nobel's eleventh album, live in PAARD's GR8: The documentary Human First runs first, about fifty minutes, then the trumpeter plays with bass, drums and added guitar. 7 October, 20:00, PAARD. DANCE / PERFORMANCE
First names announced for 2027 Haags Beat Festival: Rinus Gerritsen and Cesar Zuiderwijk will play the ninth edition at the Zuiderparktheater in August 2027. The previous edition sold out in January, and Early Bird tickets are already on sale.
Events: Watch
Discussing beauty standards and resistance at Open Boek: Author Tatjana Almuli leads an open conversation using shared excerpts from literature and essays on body politics. 7 October, 19:00 - 20:30, Centrale Bibliotheek. TALKS / IDEAS
Rui Chafes and Giacometti together in Gris Vide Cris III: First time sculptures by the Portuguese artist and the Swiss modernist stand side by side in the Netherlands, arranged with two foundations. 7 October, 10:00, Museum Beelden aan Zee. ART / MUSEUMS
Eva Besnyö, from Budapest and Berlin to Dolle Mina: Vintage prints, letters, magazines and personal papers trace her years in Budapest, Berlin, Bergen and Amsterdam, and her Dolle Mina work. 7 October, 11:00, Fotomuseum Den Haag. ART / MUSEUMS
Climb the 28-metre yellow tower at Uitzichtpunt Binnenhof: Stairs lined with information about the ongoing renovation lead to a platform overlooking the Ridderzaal, the Hofvijver and the city skyline. 7 October, 09:00, Uitzichtpunt Binnenhof. OUTDOOR / ACTIVE
Reflections on Fashion, seventy-five years of the costume collection: Guest curators including Jan Taminiau and Lisa Konno each picked from a depot of 50,000 pieces, from Chanel to Iris van Herpen. 7 October, 10:00, Kunstmuseum Den Haag. ART / MUSEUMS
Thirty free minutes on the Binnenhof renovation, booking required: Staff walk you through the Binnenhof's past, its present as a building site, and what comes after the renovation. 7 October, 11:00, Informatiecentrum Binnenhof Renovatie. TOUR
Blood, Guts, and Anarchy gathers Kathy Acker's radical writing: Held in the corner offices of the former American embassy, the first Dutch presentation of her feminist writing on gender and desire. 7 October, 12:00, West Den Haag. ART / MUSEUMS
Events: Do
Sixty minutes in the Tweede Kamer with a ProDemos guide: In Dutch, thirty people per group, with a stop on the gallery above the blue plenary chairs; renovation moved it to Bezuidenhoutseweg. 7 October, 10:00, Tweede Kamer. TOUR
Paint a Delft tile inside the Royal Delft factory: Black paint that turns Delft blue in the kiln, your own design or a house pattern, mailed to you weeks later. 7 October, 14:00, Royal Delft Museum. WORKSHOP
Litter grabbers and sled harnesses at the Free Beach Clean & Workout: A Pullka trainer and a Groene Strand guide lead it; children from five can come along with an adult. 7 October, 14:00, Zwarte Pad. OUTDOOR / ACTIVE
A walk through Bezuidenhout, where Mohammed Hatta lived as a student: KunstPost follows the streets where he lived while studying in the twenties, finishing at the Christus Triumfatorkerk on Juliana van Stolberglaan. 7 October, 10:00, Centrum Den Haag. TOUR
Autumn discovery trip for primary schoolers in the Bosjes van Poot: An hour and a half in the woods with an adult along, fifteen children at most, and booking is required. 7 October, 14:00, Apenbos in de Bosjes van Poot. OUTDOOR / ACTIVE
Forró, Brazil's couple dance, free on Amare's Kunstenplein: A workshop first, then open dancing for anyone, in the close embrace that came out of northeastern Brazil in the forties. 7 October, 19:00, Amare. DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Empty wine bottles, paint and no experience needed at Sip & Paint: Ninety minutes with a student art club, decorating a bottle you take home as a candle holder or a light. 7 October, 17:00 - 18:30, Hotelschool The Hague. WORKSHOP
Work / Business
Platform BK and Stroom explore collective artist solidarity: A morning session uses historical worker reading techniques to help working artists map needs and organise together. 7 October, 10:00 - 13:30, Stroom Den Haag. WORKSHOP
Good to know
New on Dutch streaming: Inception (Prime Video), Agnelli (HBO Max), Last Christmas (SkyShowtime), Medusa (Netflix)
New on the big screen: Shaun het Schaap: Het Beest van de Boerderij arrives at 5 cinemas, and Practical Magic 2 is now showing at 3 cinemas. Showtimes here.
Overheard on Reddit: A post about repeated shoving by boys in the city centre sparked debate over their intentions.
Today's supermarket deals: Perla Huisblends Aroma coffee beans (2+1 free) from Albert Heijn, Alle Pink Lady's (25% off) from Jumbo.
Did you know? The Mauritshuis announced in 2014 that "Girl with a Pearl Earring" would stop touring the world and stay in The Hague indefinitely.
107 years ago today: On October 7th, 1919, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in The Hague; it remains the oldest airline still flying under its original name.
Adoptable pet of the dayAdoptable pet of the day: Meet Soof, a cat at Haags Dierencentrum. Take a look →
Looking ahead – next week
The bigger things coming up in The Hague over the next seven days.
•  Museum Night The Hague · Saturday 10 October
•  Food La Route - Scheveningen Harbour · Thursday 8 October
•  Neighbourhood Market Zeeheldenkwartier · Thursday 8 October
•  The Hague Cocktail Week · Tuesday 6 October to Sunday 11 October
•  Blue Week - What Can We Learn from the Ocean? · Tuesday 6 October to Saturday 10 October, Overig Den Haag
•  Mondrian & the Path to Abstraction · Saturday 10 October to Friday 31 December, Kunstmuseum Den Haag
In tomorrow’s edition: In tomorrow's edition: a HIP-lezing op stap with Jan van Goyen at Centrale Bibliotheek, Winged at Muziektheater, and economic growth and devastation discussed at The American Women's Club of The Hague.
Have a great Wednesday.
Running something in The Hague? Tell us about it and we will take a look.
The autumn light over the Binnenhof is worth stepping outside for.
Essentially The Hague
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