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Behind the Nieuwe Kerk on the Spui, you will find the grave monument of the great philosopher Spinoza. On the grave plate from 1927 is written in Latin: 'In the earth of the Nieuwe Kerk lie buried the bones of Benedict de Spinoza'. Above this is the seal of the philosopher: a rose with his initials and the word 'caute' or thoughtful. The rose is the symbol of Spinoza, meaning thorn.

The Hague was Spinoza's refuge. He openly criticised certain dogmas of the Jewish religion and was therefore expelled from his own Amsterdam-Jewish community. Three centuries later, in 1956, the Dutch-Jewish artist Job Wertheim made his tomb. It consists of a brick wall with a standing natural stone tombstone in the middle, in which Spinoza's image is carved. Below the stylised naturalistic portrait is a basalt stone from the mountains of Galilee with the Hebrew inscription 'Amcha', thy people. This is to indicate that the Jewish people embraced Spinoza again.

Spinoza (1632-1677) came to The Hague via Rijnsburg and Voorburg, after leaving Amsterdam in 1661. He lived on Stille Veerkade and later on Paviljoensgracht, where he completed his famous work 'Ethica' and where he died in 1677. His statue stands diagonally opposite the house on the Paviljoensgracht. Because of the curse Spinoza was not allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. The protestant Nieuwe Kerk offered him his final resting place.

In the 1920s, the maker of his tomb, Wertheim, followed classical academic sculpture training in Germany. During the Second World War, he was deported from the Netherlands to Theresienstadt, where he was commissioned to create works of art. After the war, Wertheim became known for his portrait busts. In 1957, he founded 'Openbaar Kunstbezit' (Public Art Possession), the popular radio and later TV programme to bring art to the attention of a broad public.