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About three hundred people participated in the sixty-year commemoration of the bombardment of Bezuidenhout around noon on Sunday at the monument Juliana van Stolberg (1506-1580) on the Koningin Marialaan in The Hague. This is how the article in the Haagsche Courant of 7 March 2005 opened the commemoration of the English bombardment of German V2 rockets on 3 March 1945. Hundreds were killed and many thousands became homeless. The Juliana van Stolberg monument from 1930 was the centre of the ceremony and was placed in a sea of flowers.

Now flowers, then bombs. The statue of sculptor Bon Ingen Housz and architect Dirk Roosenburg stood on Louise de Colignyplein in the middle of the stricken area and was miraculously spared. In 1954, the strictly religious, intelligent and above all strong progenitor of the House of Orange and her sons had to move because of urban planning measures.

A good location was found on the Koningin Marialaan. As a widow, Juliana married Willem van Nassau in 1531. She had seven daughters and five sons: Willem the Silent, Adolf, Johan, Hendrik and Lodewijk. Religion played an important role in the family. In the winter of 1570/71, theological discussions took place at Dillenburg Castle. As a result, Juliana and all her children exchanged Lutheranism for Calvinism. She inspired her sons to great deeds for the Netherlands. She ruled over her family, as she now seems to rule over the area around Bezuidenhout.

Not only do her clothes and pose reflect her nature, the design also contributes to this. The strict treatment of the surface and lines, her stern pose with outstretched hands on the columns and her long robe and devout cap express it: she was a deeply religious and dominant woman. Ingen Housz has seen this clearly.