{"id":2550,"date":"2025-09-18T12:43:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.bureaurotterdam.nl\/gevangenpoort-van-toegangspoort-tot-rijksmuseum\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T09:24:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:24:56","slug":"prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”0″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”209946″][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ override_padding=”yes” column_padding=”2″ font_family=”font-623990″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ align_medium=”align_center_tablet” medium_width=”0″ align_mobile=”align_center_mobile” mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”152086″][vc_icon position=”bottom” icon_image=”63″ media_size=”40″ heading_semantic=”h1″ text_font=”font-623990″ text_size=”h1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”718571″ title=”Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum”][\/vc_icon][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”137471″][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-623990″ text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”420277″]How the Prison Gate grew from being an entrance gate into a prison, and later a national museum[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”106985″]In the Prison Gate, you can find out how people were arrested and punished over the centuries. The stories about what happened here really took place. When you walk through the old cells and into the torture room, you can vividly sense what an awful time the suspects must have had here.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”213735″]<\/p>\n

The canals around the Binnenhof<\/h3>\n

In the 13th century, when the gate was built, it was the only entrance from Plaats onto the forecourt of the Binnenhof. The Binnenhof, with its now-famous Knight\u2019s Hall, was built as a hunting lodge. It grew to become the most important residence of the counts of Holland, who ruled over North and South Holland and Zeeland. The Binnenhof was a kind of castle with solid stone buildings, but it did not have any thick castle towers or high defensive walls with battlements. There was a double canal around the Binnenhof, however. A small lake, today\u2019s Hofvijver, was also dug out next to the Binnenhof. The courtyard could be accessed via three gatehouses, one of which was the Prison Gate. The other two gatehouses were later demolished.<\/p>\n

The prison<\/h3>\n

In early 1400, the gateway developed an additional function: the count\u2019s prisoners were locked up there. Later, the gate also served as a prison for the Court of Holland. In the end, the Prison Gate would become a kind of state prison. The Prison Gate of that time cannot be compared with today\u2019s prisons, where detainees sometimes remain incarcerated for many years.[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_color=”color-144797″ text_font=”font-107350″ text_size=”h3″ text_height=”fontheight-116709″ uncode_shortcode_id=”104144″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”]<\/p>\n

‘The accused awaited their interrogation and trial in the Prison Gate. In most cases, they did not wait for long.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”965188″]<\/p>\n

Painful interrogations<\/h3>\n

Suspects were interrogated in the Prison Gate\u2019s \u2018torture chamber\u2019. Such interrogations were rarely gentle: suspects were often tortured in order to force them to confess. The suspects were beaten by the executioner or stretched on the rack. The politician Cornelis de Witt was one of the suspects who was cross-examined using torture. The excruciating pain would often cause people to confess, although the judges could not pass a sentence until the suspect then also confessed without the use of torture.<\/p>\n

Extending the building<\/h3>\n

In the beginning, there was only the gatehouse; all of the necessary additions were made later. In the mid-15th century, for example, a wing was built along the approach to the Binnenhof. In order to be able to accommodate the growing number of prisoners, in early 1500, a three-storey cell block was added. This contained the \u2018gaols\u2019: bare, dark cells that were meant for the common people. More distinguished suspects were accommodated, for a fee, in the gatehouse itself, where the comfortable Knight\u2019s Chamber was furnished for them. This was where the scholar Dirk Volkertsz. Coornhert and the politician Cornelis de Witt were imprisoned, among others.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”0″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”209946″][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ override_padding=”yes” column_padding=”2″ font_family=”font-623990″ overlay_alpha=”50″ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1832,"parent":2507,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2550","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPrison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”0″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”209946″][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ override_padding=”yes” column_padding=”2″ font_family=”font-623990″ overlay_alpha=”50″ […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gevangenpoort\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gevangenpoort\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T07:24:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/\",\"name\":\"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-18T10:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T07:24:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp\",\"width\":1410,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Historisch museum met schilderijen en oude martelwerktuigen.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Explore\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Stories about crime and punishment\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/\",\"name\":\"Gevangenpoort\",\"description\":\"Prison Gate\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Gevangenpoort\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/logo-Gevangenpoort.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/logo-Gevangenpoort.png\",\"width\":760,\"height\":229,\"caption\":\"Gevangenpoort\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gevangenpoort\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gevangenpoort\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort","og_description":"[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”0″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”209946″][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ override_padding=”yes” column_padding=”2″ font_family=”font-623990″ overlay_alpha=”50″ […]","og_url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/","og_site_name":"Gevangenpoort","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gevangenpoort","article_modified_time":"2025-10-22T07:24:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1410,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/","url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/","name":"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum - Gevangenpoort","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp","datePublished":"2025-09-18T10:43:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-22T07:24:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gevangenpoort-museum-prison-gate.webp","width":1410,"height":500,"caption":"Historisch museum met schilderijen en oude martelwerktuigen."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/prison-gate-from-entrance-gate-to-national-museum\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Explore","item":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Stories about crime and punishment","item":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/explore\/stories-about-crime-and-punishment\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Prison gate: from entrance gate to National Museum"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/","name":"Gevangenpoort","description":"Prison Gate","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#organization","name":"Gevangenpoort","url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/logo-Gevangenpoort.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/logo-Gevangenpoort.png","width":760,"height":229,"caption":"Gevangenpoort"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gevangenpoort","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gevangenpoort\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2550"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3271,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2550\/revisions\/3271"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gevangenpoort.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}