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Hugo de Groot

Hugo Grotius, or Hugo de Groot (1583-1645) worked as a jurist in the Dutch Republic.He was also a philosopher, Christian apologist, playwriter and poet.
One of the pioneering natural rights theorists of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Grotius defined natural law as a perceptive judgement in which things are good or bad by their own nature. This was a break from Calvinist ideals, in that God was no longer the only source of ethical qualities. He publicly claimed that Calvinist beliefs could have political and religious dangers to Protestantism.
This ultimately led to his imprisonment in the castle of Loevestein. In 1621, with the help of his wife and maidservant, Grotius managed to escape the castle in a book chest and fled to Paris. In the Netherlands today, he is mainly famous for this daring escape.

• Location information
• www.slotloevestein.nl

Kaasmarkt

Alkmaar's cheese market at the Waagplein is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions. The cheese market traditionally takes place on the first Friday in April and the last market of the season is the first Friday in September.

Every Friday morning the Waagplein is the decor of this traditional cheesemarket. After the old fashion way of hand clap trading, traders and carriers will weigh the cheeses. It is one of only four traditional Dutch cheese markets still in existence.

The Alkmaar cheese carriers’ guild is responsible for moving and weighing cheese during the cheese market on Fridays. The cheese carriers wear the traditional costume: a white suit and a straw hat with a ribbon in the colour of their own veem.

The traditional fare of this cheese market are those cheeses made in the local area. It is not actually possible to buy cheese at the market itself, which is really only a demonstration of how this merchants' market operated in times gone by. However, the demonstration, which takes place in front of the medieval weighing house, is surrounded by many specialized stalls where it is possible to buy all kinds of cheese related products.

The Waag is also home to the local tourist office and a cheese museum.

• Location information
• www.vvvalkmaar.nl

Madurodam

Madurodam is a miniature theme park located in Scheveningen. It is composed of typical Dutch buildings and landmarks, as are found at various locations in the country, on a 1:25 scale.

This major tourist attraction was built in 1952 and has been visited by tens of millions of visitors since then. The miniature city was named after George Maduro, a law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. His parents donated the money to start the Madurodam project.

On July 2, 1952, teenaged princess Beatrix was appointed mayor of Madurodam, after which she was given a tour of her town. When Beatrix became queen of the Netherlands, she relinquished this function. Today, the mayor of Madurodam is elected by a youth municipal council consisting of 25 pupils from schools in the region.

• Location information
• www.madurodam.nl

Mustela Lutreola

The European mink, Mustela lutreola, is a critically endangered small carnivore in Europe. It once inhabited a vast territory from the Ural mountains to eastern Spain and from central Finland to the Black Sea. Since the beginning of the 20th century its range has decreased drastically. At present, isolated populations can be found in only one-fifth of its former range. The species' disappearance is caused by multiple factors like loss of habitats, overexploitation and, above all, the impact of the alien American mink,Mustela vison, through competition for resources and direct aggression. The species is likely to go extinct if the conservation measures fail.

The European mink is included in Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Habitat as a species needing strict protection. In the IUCN Action Plan For Conservation of Mustelids and Viverrids, it is considered a high priority species to preserve.

The Tallinn Zoo is one of the few places where you can see the now endangered European Mink.

• Location information
• http://www.waza.org/en/site/conservation/waza-conservation-projects/overview/saving-the-european-mink-through-combined-ex-situ-and-in-situ-efforts-europe

Panorama

This coin gives you an overview of some of the most famous places in the Netherlands:

Palace on the Dam - Amsterdam
Dom church - Utrecht
Windmills - Kinderdijk
Binnenhof - Den Haag
Euromast - Rotterdam
Muiderslot - Muiden
Vuurtoren - Ameland
Waag - Gouda

• Location information

• www.madurodam.nl

Rembrandthuis

Museum het Rembrandthuis (the Rembrandt House Museum) is located in the house where Rembrandt lived and painted for a number of years. The building was constructed in 1606-1607, in a part of the city where many rich merchants and artists settled.
The museum’s collection of etchings grew steadily as a result of gifts and purchases over the decades, but few changes were made to the interior of the house. By the end of last century, the decision was taken to restore Rembrandt’s former home to its original condition. The restoration was completed in 1999.
The collection as it now stands provides an almost complete overview of Rembrandt’s graphic work. In addition to the collection of etchings, drawings and copper plates by the master himself, the Rembrandt House Museum also owns a small number of paintings by Rembrandt’s teacher, his pupils and his contemporaries.

• Location information
• www.rembrandthuis.nl

University of Tartu

Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university.

Regarded by many Estonians as the country's "national university", it is the highest-ranked university in Estonia as well as one of the highest-ranked in former Eastern Europe. The University of Tartu was established by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632, thus being the second oldest university in the region after Vilnius University.

The university’s four museums, its Botanical Gardens and sports facilities are, by and large, open to the general public. The University possesses some 150 buildings, 30 of which are outside of Tartu. 31 of its buildings decorate the city as architectural monuments.

• Location information

• http://www.ut.ee/

Zaanse Schans

Zaanse Schans is a neighbourhood of Zaandam in the province of North Holland.
With its traditional green painted houses, warehouses and windmills the Zaanse Schans gives the feeling of having stepped back into the seventeenth or eighteenth century. However this is not an open air museum but a colourful living and working neighbourhood.
Of the thousand industrial windmills ever built along the banks of the river Zaan thirteen now remain, of which six can be found at the Zaanse Schans.
The Zaanse Schans also offers a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape as it was before and after the industrial revolution. This panorama makes the Zaanse Schans a vital link in the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

• Location information
• www.saenselelie.nl
  www.zaanseschans.nl