1.
Teylers Museum
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Teylers Museum is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art, the historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval Room, which was built behind the house of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, the so-called Fundatiehuis. Pieter Teyler was a cloth merchant and banker of Scottish descent, who bequeathed his fortune for the advancement of religion, art. He was a Mennonite and follower of the Scottish Enlightenment, in his will, Pieter Teyler stipulated that his collection and part of his fortune should be used to establish a foundation for their promotion, Teylers Stichting. The executors of Teylers will, the first directors of Teylers Stichting, decided to establish a centre for study, under a single roof, it would house all manner of suitable artifacts, such as books, scientific instruments, drawings, fossils, and minerals. The concept was based on a revolutionary ideal derived from the Enlightenment, in 1779, Leendert Viervant started on the design of an art and book room behind Teyler’s residence. The Oval room was opened in 1784, with the scientist Martin van Marum as its first director, a showcase in the centre displays a mineralogical collection from the 18th century and the showcases around hold 18th-century scientific instruments. The upper gallery, which was designed to let in the amount of light for viewing purposes, has 12 built-in bookcases, largely containing period encyclopaedias. Over the ensuing centuries, the museum was gradually extended, the arrangement of each new part was consistent with the insights of the day, thereafter it remained almost wholly unchanged. In the 19th century, the museum was expanded with two painting galleries, Teylers First Painting Gallery in 1838 and Paintings Gallery II in 1892, in 1878, to mark the first centenary, a new entrance on the Spaarne was designed by the Viennese architect Christian Ulrich. The rooms behind it – the Instrument Room, and Fossil Rooms I, at the same time, the library was extended and a 150-seat auditorium was added. Over a century later, in 1996, a new wing was added. In 2002, a property was added to the museum to serve as the museum shop. Teylers Museum displays a collection of fossils, minerals, scientific instruments, medals, coins. In his own contribution to the development of the natural sciences, to study fossils, he purchased fossil material such as the Mosasaurus. To demonstrate the principles of hydraulics, he commissioned models of mills, to disseminate natural and cultural knowledge, public experiments were conducted, such as those with van Marum’s large electrostatic generator built in 1784 by John Cuthbertson in Amsterdam. Lectures were given and scientific literature published, similarly, the museum contains nearly the complete graphic work of Rembrandt and Adriaen van Ostade. Teylers Museum holds a collection of more than 10,000 master drawings, various parts of the prints and drawings collection are shown in rotation in a specially prepared room for prints and drawings built behind the Oval Room
2.
Haarlem
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Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the edge of the Randstad. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014 and it is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the countrys capital for work. Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270, the modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. The city is located on the river Spaarne, about 20 km west of Amsterdam and it has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears the nickname Bloemenstad, for this reason. Haarlem has a history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal. The people on this strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships, however, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a bedroom community. Nowadays many of them are on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments, the list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre. The oldest mentioning of Haarlem dates from the 10th century, the name probably comes from Haarlo-heim. This name is composed of three elements, haar, lo and heim, there is not much dispute about the meaning of lo and heim, in Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to forest and heim to home or house. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune, the name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean home on a forested dune. There was a stream called De Beek, dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal, over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in, the location of the village was a good one, by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland
3.
Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika
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It was first built to showcase King Leopold IIs Congo Free State in the 1897 World Exhibition. The museum focuses on the Congo, a former Belgian colony, the sphere of interest however extends to the whole Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and West Africa, attempting to integrate Africa as a whole. Intended originally as a museum, from 1960 onwards it has more focused on ethnography. Like most museums, it houses a department in addition to its public exhibit department. Not all research pertains to Africa, some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. As of November 2013, the museum is closed for work which is expected to last until 2017 when the museum will reopen. After considering other places, the decided to have a temporary exhibition in his royal estate at Tervuren. When the 1897 International Exposition was held in Brussels, a section was built in Tervuren. The Brussels-Tervuren tram line 44 was built at the time as the original museum by King Leopold II to bring the visitors from the city centre to the colonial exhibition. The colonial section was hosted in the Palace of the Colonies, the building was designed by the Belgian architect Albert-Philippe Aldophe and the classical gardens by French landscape architect Elie Lainé. In the main hall Georges Hobé designed a distinctive wooden Art Nouveau structure to evoke the forest, using Bilinga wood, the exhibition displayed ethnographic objects, stuffed animals and Congolese export products. In the park, a temporary Human zoo - a copy of an African village - was built, the exposition was a huge success. In 1898 the Palace of the Colonies became the Museum of the Congo, a decade later, in 1912, a small, similar museum - the African Museum of Namur - was opened in Namur. The Museum began to support research, but due to the avid collecting of the scientists. Tervuren became a suburb of Brussels. It was officially opened by King Albert I in 1910 and named the Museum of the Belgian Congo, in 1952 the adjective Royal was added. In preparation for Expo 58, in 1957 a large building was constructed to accommodate African personnel working in the exhibition, in 1960, following the independence of the Congo, the museums name was changed to its current title, the Royal Museum for Central Africa. In late 2013 the museum was closed to allow a major renovation of its exhibits and its reopening is planned for 2017
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Tervuren
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Tervuren /tərˈvjʊrən/ is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren, Vossem, on January 1,2006, Tervuren had a total population of 20,636. The total area is 32.92 km², which gives it a density of 627 inhabitants per km. The official language of Tervuren is Dutch, local minorities consist primarily of French speakers and nationals of many countries of the European Union, the USA, and Canada. The British School of Brussels has been located in Tervuren since 1970, Tervuren is one of the richest municipalities in Belgium. It is linked to Brussels by a large avenue, Tervurenlaan. This interweaves with a heritage and commuter tramline. Until 1959, Tervuren was also served by an electric railway, for centuries people thought that Tervuren was the same place as Fura, where Saint Hubert died in 727 AD. There is, however, no proof of this, and recent scholarship locates Fura in Voeren/Fourons. A document dating from 1213 AD proves the presence of Henry I, Duke of Brabant and this evolved into the castle of Tervuren, the residence of the dukes of Brabant in the 14th and 15th centuries. The castle was demolished in 1782 under Joseph II, tram 44, which travels between Brussels and Tervuren exists because of Leopold IIs desire to bring visitors from around the world to his 1897 exhibition of the Congo Free State. The Royal Museum for Central Africa is an ethnographical and natural history museum and it focuses mainly on the Congo, Belgiums former colony. However, some aspects extend to the whole of the Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and it was at first intended purely as a colonial museum, but after 1960 it became more focused on ethnography and anthropology. Like in most museums, there is both a department and a public exhibit department. Despite its name, not all research pertains to Africa, for example, there is research going on into the archaeozoology of Sagalassos. Some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the museum is surrounded by gardens, with the biggest giant redwood in Flanders, and a large park with lakes. St Hubert Chapel is located at the west end of the park, Tervuren Library is situated at Vandersandestraat 15. It contains around 43,300 printed documents, and 886 DVDs, the Gemeentelijke Basisschool Tervuren has a kindergarten and a primary school
5.
Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis
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The Royal Museums of Art and History or RMAH is a group of museums in Brussels, Belgium. It is part of the Belgian federal institute of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office and it was there that the first collections were established that are now housed in the Royal Museums of Art and History. Regrettably, a number of art treasures and objects were removed to the imperial museums in Vienna in 2014. The collections were moved to the Palais de l’Industrie, the wing of the present Royal Museums of Fine Art. In 1906, the collection was likewise transferred there, the collection of arms. The new museum complex at the Cinquantenaire was named the Royal Museums of Decorative, the institution now became the Royal Museums of Art and History, a name that was officially confirmed in 1926 and that has remained unchanged to the present day. In 1925, Eugène Van Overloop was succeeded by the Egyptologist Jean Capart, the Second World War brought a sharp halt to the activities of the RMAH. The collections were taken to safety and, in 1942, Henry Lavachery took over from Jean Capart, immediately after the war, he began a thorough reorganization of the institution. In 1946, a fire reduced an entire wing of the Cinquantenaire Museum to ashes. Rebuilding took time and it was only in 1966 that the new wing was inaugurated, the work was expertly led by Count Charles de Borchgrave d’Altena, head curator from 1951 to 1963, and by his immediate successor Pierre Gilbert. All the while, they were expanding the collections and modernizing the museum, centre for Fine Arts Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
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Jubelpark
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Parc du Cinquantenaire or Jubelpark is a large public, urban park in the easternmost part of the European Quarter in Brussels, Belgium. During successive exhibitions in the area, more structures were added. The centrepiece triumphal arch was erected in 1905 replacing a temporary version of the arcade by Gédéon Bordiau. The structures were built in iron, glass and stone, symbolising the economic, the surrounding 30-hectare park esplanade was full of picturesque gardens, ponds and waterfalls. It housed several trade fairs, exhibitions and festivals at the beginning of the century, in 1930 the government decided to reserve Cinquantenaire for use as a leisure park. The Royal Military Museum has been the tenant of the northern half of the complex since 1880. The southern half is occupied by the Jubelpark museum and the AutoWorld Museum, the Temple of Human Passions, a remainder from 1886, and the Great Mosque of Brussels from 1978 are located in the north-western corner of the park. Line 1 of the Brussels Metro and the Belliard Tunnel from wetstraat pass underneath the park, the nearest metro stations are Schuman to the west of the park, and Mérode immediately to the east. Originally this area was part of the exercise ground outside of the center of the city. For the world exhibition of 1880, the plain was developed as an exhibition center, the original pavilions of the 1880 exhibition, designed by Gédéon Bordiau, were largely replaced with the triumphal arcade designed by Charles Girault in 1904 and the large halls on both sides. Only the glass-constructed Bordiau halls remain from the 1880 structures, the Arch was planned for the world exhibition of 1880 and was meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Belgium. In 1880, only the bases of the columns were completed and, during the exhibition, the park was also the site of the Brussels International, for which the building wings were extended, although the arch was still incomplete. The original architect was the Belgian Gideon Bordiau, who spent close to 20 years on the project and his successor, chosen by Leopold, was the French architect Charles Girault. Girault changed the design from an arch to a tri-parte arch. Today the various buildings of the Jubelpark host three musea and one mosque, the surrounding park esplanade is used for several purposes in the summer, such as military parades and drive-in movies. It is also the point for the 20 km of Brussels. At the exhibition of 1910, a section of military history was presented to the public, given the enthusiasm of the population, the authorities established a museum of the army. This was in a period of tension which leads to the Great War
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Brussel (stad)
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The City of Brussels is the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the de jure capital of Belgium. The City of Brussels covers most of the Regions centre, as well as northern outskirts where it borders municipalities in Flanders and it is the administrative centre of the European Union. On 1 January 2016, the City of Brussels had a population of 178,552. The total area is 32.61 km2 which gives a density of 5,475 inhabitants per square kilometre. As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels, at first, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day small ring. As the city grew, the villages grew as well, eventually growing into a contiguous city. The construction of Avenue Louise was commissioned in 1847 as an avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre. However, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the town of Ixelles through whose land the avenue was supposed to run. After years of negotiations, Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue plus the Bois de la Cambre itself in 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual southeastern protrusion of the City of Brussels, the Université Libre de Bruxelles Solbosch campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the southeast end. Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964,1970, however, a few neighbouring municipalities have been merged into the City of Brussels, including Haren, Laken and Neder-Over-Heembeek in 1921. These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality, to the south-east is also a strip of land along Avenue Louise that was annexed from the Ixelles municipality
8.
Brugge
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Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size, the citys total population is 117,073, of whom around 20,000 live in the city centre. The metropolitan area, including the commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Stockholm, Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port and was once one of the worlds chief commercial cities. Bruges is well known as the seat of the College of Europe, the name probably derives from the Old Dutch for bridge, brugga. Also compare Middle Dutch brucge, brugge, and modern Dutch bruggehoofd, the form brugghe would be a southern Dutch variant. The Dutch word and the English bridge both derive from Proto-Germanic *brugjō-, Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development, in the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesars conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century. The Viking incursions of the century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications, trade soon resumed with England. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built, in 1089 Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city became the commercial outpost for Bruges. Bruges had a location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and they employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices, the citys entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotlands wool-producing districts
9.
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
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The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw. The Rijksmuseum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, the current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On 13 April 2013, after a renovation which cost €375 million. In 2013 and 2014, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with record numbers of 2.2 million and 2.47 million visitors and it is also the largest art museum in the country. The museum also has a small Asian collection, which is on display in the Asian pavilion, in 1795, the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. The Minister of Finance Isaac Gogel argued that a museum, following the French example of The Louvre. On 19 November 1798, the government decided to found the museum, on 31 May 1800, the National Art Gallery, precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened its doors in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch stadtholders, in 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within The Hague to the Buitenhof. In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by Napoleon Bonaparte, on the orders of king Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to Amsterdam in 1808. The paintings owned by city, such as The Night Watch by Rembrandt. In 1809, the museum opened its doors in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, in 1817, the museum moved to the Trippenhuis. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum, in 1820, the historical objects were moved to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and in 1838 the 19th-century paintings were moved to Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem. In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place. In 1876 a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won, the design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on 1 October 1876, on both the inside and the outside, the building was richly decorated with references to Dutch art history. Another contest was held for these decorations, the winners were B. van Hove and J. F. Vermeylen for the sculptures, G. Sturm for the tile tableaus and painting and W. F. Dixon for the stained glass. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885, in 1890 a new building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum
10.
Van Abbemuseum
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Van Abbemuseum is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel river. Established in 1936, the Abbe Museum is named after its founder, Van Abbe was a lover of modern art and wanted to enjoy it there from Eindhoven. As of 2010, the collection of the houses more than 2700 works of art, of which about 1000 are on paper, are 700 paintings. With an area of 9,825 m2, monument number 507030 and it also has works by Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. The museums original collection was bought by Eindhoven city council in 1934 in an agreement with Henri van Abbe, in return for buying some of his collection, the Van Abbe factory paid for and donated the museum building to house the collection which opened in 1936. The city had architect Alexander Kropholler design a building which is a suite of galleries in traditionalist style. The museum name was given on publications as Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum up until about 1990 and as Van Abbemuseum after that time. As the building had far too small for modern demands. The original collection contained works by Jan Sluijters, Carel Willink and Isaac Israëls amongst others, mostly Dutch, the museum also bought other artworks from founder Henri van Abbe before his death in 1940. The collection developed most under the directorships of Edy de Wilde, while De Wilde bought the classical modernist works by Picasso etc. Fuchs bought works from artists of his own generation, in particular conceptual work from the USA, more recent acquisitions include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. The museum is internationally renowned for having one of the largest collections of works by El Lissitzky. The Van Abbemuseum also houses the collection of posters made by the Situationist Jacqueline de Jong in Paris during May 1968, charles Esche is the director of the Van Abbemuseum. The museum had 96,750 visitors in 2011 and 98,100 visitors in 2012
