Statue of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

The bronze figure standing in the niche to your right is Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, and his story is one of the most dramatic in Dutch history. Born in 1547 in Amersfoort, he first served Rotterdam itself as city pensionary, helping to shape this port into the thriving trade hub it would become. That local dedication earned him a place of honour right here on the City Hall facade.

His ambitions grew far beyond Rotterdam. As Advocate of Holland, he was the chief architect of the Dutch Republic, and in 1602 he co-founded the Dutch East India Company, arguably the world's first multinational corporation. He also negotiated the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain, buying the young republic a desperately needed breathing space.

But politics is rarely kind to the most powerful man in the room. His religious and strategic differences with Prince Maurice eventually led to his arrest in 1618. After a trial widely considered a political show, he was beheaded at the Binnenhof in The Hague on May 13, 1619. His final words insisted he died as a good patriot, not a traitor.

Above the niche, the Latin inscription reads: "Frugality at the bottom is too late." Given that the man spent his life managing the finances of a nation, that feels like a rather pointed epitaph.