Hugo Grotius 400
Slot Loevestein (NL)
Temporary exhibition 2021
A deep-dive into the mind of Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright Hugo Grotius (Hugo de Groot).

Hugo Grotius, is in The Netherlands best known for his spectacular escape from his imprisonment, hidden in a Bookchest, from Loevestein Castle exactly 400 years ago.

The Exhibition welcomes the Guests with the most iconic and known topic, the chest.

The escape has become legendary and throughout time innumerous artistic impressions of it have been made. From a 300 year old sketch up to a Lego stop-motion film, they have been brought together.

Since the original chest is not existing anymore, we worked together with young people to build a new one and as a Guest, you step inside, test the Chest-escape feeling and get a picture taken.


Over the years, the original cell and its interior have been lost. In this exhibition you can meet Hugo de Groot in his original cell in the Form of an Oil-painting and a audiovisual story

Over the years, the original cell and its interior have been lost. In this exhibition you can meet Hugo de Groot in his original cell in the form of an Oil-painting.

Every few minutes, the walls of his cell 'become alive' and start to tell about the live as a captive on Loevestein and the details of the escape.

As the grand finale and the main space, the Guests enter the Universe of thoughts of Hugo de Groot.

5 of his most important antique books are displayed and from the display letters are scattered all over the space in an immersive light installation.


In between this installation guests can meet 5 Experts among which the Astronaut Andre Kuipers, that talk about the legacy and influence of Hugo de Groot’s work in our modern world.



Friends:
Beeld & Beweging - Audiovisual productions
Flink - Exhibition build
Berthe Mandaat - Creative DTP
Mike Bink - Photography
Experts:
Almatine Leene, Theoloog des Vaderlands
André Kuipers, Astronaut European Space Agency
Carl Haarnack, Voorzitter Stichting Anton de Kom
Jan van de Venis, wnd. Ombudspersoon Toekomstige Generaties
Tessa Beeloo, Coördinator Humanitair Oorlogsrecht Rode Kruis
Special thanks to
Prof. Hendrik Kaptein for his consultation on sometimes quite complex questions.










































