Museums of The Hague

I love museums in Europe. I like how the guards don’t scowl at you. I like how you can bring in your journal or art pad and art supplies and no one has a conniption. One thing really great about London in particular is that most of the big museums are free. Sure, you might have to pay a little extra for a traveling exhibits, but other than that you can get in at no charge.

The museums in The Hague don’t offer free admission, but I don’t think they’re unreasonably priced. For most of the museums, it’s about €8 for adults and kids under 18 are free. See? Not bad.

Since our trip to Den Haag was pretty much a last minute decision, I didn’t do a lot of research (hey, that sounds familiar… maybe I’m getting lazy?). Oh, but what jewels we found. Don’t forget, the museums are closed on Mondays. And they all seem to open around 11 AM, so you’ll have time for a nice lie-in and a bit of a leisurely breakfast.

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis is housed in a 17th century palace that was built for Count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, who was governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil from 1634-1644. It’s located next door to the Biennehof, about a 10 minute walk from Den Haag Centraal train station. The building has housed the royal collection for 200 years! There are stunning works from Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Holbein, and more. The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer is there. I had no clue! This a lovely building and a breathtaking collection. We spent three hours here with the audio guide tour. We sort of petered out on the third floor and didn’t listen to every single entry. However, we did have a nice visit with Vermeer’s girl. Very highly recommended.

Swwwwooooooooonnnnn. Another wonderful surprise. The MC Escher museum, or Escher in Het Paleis, is housed in the Lange Voorhout Palace, a 18th century building where Queen Emma lived until 1891. Another gorgeous building, another museum to hyperventilate in. Put this on your “must see” list, especially if you have kids. The third floor has some fun interactive displays for the youngsters (and the oldsters).

When I move back to Texas, I want chandeliers like the ones in the Escher museum. I can’t find all of my paperwork from the trip, but I’ll add the artist’s name when I find it. [EDIT: Hans van Bentem, a Dutch sculptor, designed the 15 chandeliers for the Escher museum in 2003.]

A spider! Isn’t it great?!

We spent about four hours at the Escher museum. That was long enough for a thorough look through, a little time to play upstairs, and then tea in the small cafe. Don’t forget to check out the cloakroom with all of the furniture, doors and windows mounted upside down on the ceiling. Roxi thought it was cool.

The MC Escher museum is about a 10 minute walk from Den Haag Centraal.

This is the Municipal Museum in The Hague, or Gemeentemuseum. It was built in 1935 by the Dutch architect H.P. Berlage. We spent five hours here and actually wanted to stay longer, but we hit museum overload. The main reason we went to this museum was to see the special exhibit Picasso in Den Haag, which is there until March, so hurry! The Picasso exhibit is huge and spans his entire career. There are drawings, pages from his journals, paintings, ceramics, photos, and oodles of his etchings including some of the copper plates.

For kiddos and non-hardcore museum visitors, head straight down to the lower level where you’ll find all sorts of interactive and fun installations in the >>Wonderkamers :-) (sorry, this link is not in English). It is here you’ll find playful arrangements of collections (all red things in one place, all blue things, etc). You can play funky musical instruments, “try” on clothing from the 18th and 19th centuries and see your silhouette, play with fashion, and watch some very entertaining one minute videos.

The Gemeentemuesum is a 10-15 minute tram ride from Den Haag Centraal (take tram #17, it stops right in front of the museum).

For next time? I’d like to see: The Hague Museum of Photography and the GEM (museum of contemporary art), both located next to the Gemeentemuseum; the Museum for Communication; The Prison Gate Museum; The Biennehof; and The Historical Museum of The Hague. I’d also like to go to Delft, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. I’d also like to see the tulips and some old windmills. And I want to eat some herring!

That’s at least two weeks worth of stuff,
isn’t it? Hmmm.