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Although the city of Haarlem is home to 14 museums, we only had time to visit one during our brief stay, so we went with the oldest museum in the Netherlands…
The Teylers Museum
In his will, Pieter Teyler van der Hulst stipulated that his fortune should be transferred to a foundation whose aims included the promotion of the arts and sciences.
In 1784, the doors opened to the Oval Room, the original and oldest part of the Teylers Museum.
As a lover of geology and paleontology, Sam was captivated with the museum’s collection of minerals and fossils.
Now, while we can certainly appreciate art, we are not typically ‘museum people’ and tend to cruise quickly through even the most prominent of museums, such as the Louvre.
However, we found the content in the Teylers museum to be quite fascinating and spent several hours admiring the varying forms of art and artifacts.
The assortment of antique scientific instruments was also rather intriguing.
The Coin and Medals Room was added to the museum in 1889, providing visitors with a glimpse into Pieter Teyler van der Hulst’s private collection of what is now known as the Netherland’s most important collection of medals and coins.
The Teylers Museum boasts a fine collection of paintings and drawings, including works by Rembrandt and Michelangelo.
Throughout the year, the Teylers Museum hosts various exhibitions. To Sam’s delight, the exhibition during our visit was: Out of this World – The Hunt for Planets.
Space: The final frontier? Are we alone in this universe?
We learned about all the discoveries that came with the development of the telescope, including spots on Mars, clouds on Jupiter, and rings around Saturn.
These discoveries caused fantasies of inhabitants in these mysterious worlds and the science fiction genre was born!
For more information on the Teylers Museum and its current exhibition, please visit their website. We can say without a doubt, this was one of our favorite museums. We found its content to be fascinating and would definitely recommend it for your next visit to Haarlem.
Want more ideas for things to do and see in the beautiful town of Haarlem? Take a look at our (printable) Destination Guide.
Check out a quick video of this great town below!