Glass Carriage on display this spring at the Louwman Museum

From 17 March to 21 June 2015, the Glass Coach from the Royal Stables Department can be seen at the Louwman Museum.

The Glass Carriage has been restored over the past five years. This was preceded by two years of historical preliminary research. This spring, the carriage can be admired for the first time in all its glory at the Louwman Museum in The Hague. The carriage is being exhibited as part of the celebration of 200 years of the Kingdom. On the day the exhibition is officially opened (16 March 2015), it will be exactly 200 years since William I accepted the kingship.

The Glass Carriage is the pride of the Royal Stables Department, and with good reason. The Glass Carriage is the oldest coach in the Royal Stables Department and is only used on special occasions. For example, the coach could be seen at the wedding of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard and at the wedding of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. Queen Wilhelmina regularly used the Glass Carriage on Prinsjesdag.

King Willem I ordered the Glass Coach in 1821 from the Brussels carriage builder Pierre Simons, who delivered the carriage in 1826. The strikingly large coach has a simply shaped dark blue body, trimmed with a wide gilded border of laurel and oak leaves. The name of the coach comes from the glass that protects the beautiful but fragile ornamental edging applied below the windows on the body of the coach. The interior is upholstered with purple and beige velvet and fitted with embroidered trimmings, and the seat cushions are filled with horsehair stuffing. The canopy is made of embroidered beige and sky blue silk.

The special exhibition marks the acceptance of the royal dignity by William I on 16 March 1815. He is inaugurated as king on 21 September 1815 in Brussels. The exhibition is the first opportunity to view up close the results of the seven year restoration.

(photo source: National Archives/Spaarnestad Collection/Het Leven/Jan Stevens)