The Drents Museum () is an art and

history museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nove ...

, in the Netherlands. The museum was opened in 1854. It has a collection of prehistorical artifacts, applied art, and visual art. The museum also has temporary exhibitions. In 2013, it had 227,000 visitors.

History

The museum was founded by the King's Commissioner of

on 28 November 1854 as the ''Provincial Museum of Drents Antiquities''. On 6 November 2007, the museum announced that architect

Erick van Egeraat Erick van Egeraat (; born 1956) is a Dutch architect and author. He heads the architectural practice based in Rotterdam with offices in Moscow, Budapest and Prague. He is best known for his projects of ING Group Headquarters in Budapest, Drent ...

was chosen to design a new extension for the museum. Total costs were estimated at eighteen million euros. From summer 2010 to summer 2011 the museum was closed. At the beginning of 2010, a new modern depot facility for approximately 90,000 objects and works of art was completed. The new wing was opened officially in November 2011. The museum conducted a CT scan and endoscopy of a stature of Buddha that documented the presence of a mummy identified as that of a monk, Liuquan, a Buddhist master of the Chinese Medical School. The statue is reported to date to the eleventh or twelfth century. The mummy will be put on display at the

Hungarian Natural History Museum The Hungarian Natural History Museum ( hu, Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum) in Budapest, dating back to 1802, houses the largest natural history collections of Hungary and the region. History of the museum Foundation In 1802, Count Fere ...

through May 2015.

Collection

The museum has a large permanent collection of prehistoric artifacts from the province of Drenthe. It includes exhibits of

bog bodies A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between and the Second World War. Fischer ...

such as the

Yde Girl Yde Girl () is a bog body found in the ''Stijfveen'' peat bog near the village of Yde, Netherlands. She was found on 12 May 1897 and was reputedly uncannily well-preserved when discovered (especially her hair), but by the time the body was tur ...

, the

Weerdinge Men The Weerdinge Men is the name given to two bog bodies found in 1904 in Weerdinge, Drenthe, in the southern part of Bourtange moor, in the Netherlands. Radiocarbon dating shows that they likely died between 160 BC and 220 AD. At first, it was be ...

, Exloërmond Man, and the Emmer-Erscheidenveen Man. There are finds from the Funnelbeaker culture, and the collection also includes the oldest recovered

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

in the world, the Pesse canoe, that dates between 8200 and 7600 BC. An annex building has period rooms demonstrating the lifestyle of well-to-do Drenthe families from various time periods. This building also houses ceramics pertaining to the House of Orange known as the collection Bontekoe. In the garden stands a statue of Bartje Bartels, the main character of books by

Anne de Vries Anne de Vries (22 May 1904 – 29 November 1964) was a Dutch teacher and writer, particularly famous in the Netherlands for his novels of regional life. Born in the village of Kloosterveen near Assen, de Vries married Alida Gerdina van Wermesk ...

, and a symbol of the province of Drenthe. The museum holds a permanent collection of

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract ...

with particular attention to

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

from northern Europe and representatives of the fourth generation of Dutch abstract figurative artists such as Matthijs Röling. There also is a collection of art and applied art from 1885 to 1935 with work by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop
Jan Sluijters Johannes Carolus Bernardus (Jan) Sluijters, or Sluyters (17 December 1881 in 's-Hertogenbosch – 8 May 1957 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter and co-founder of the Moderne Kunstkring. Sluijters (in English often spelled "Sluyters") was a leadi ...

Administration

Harry Tupan is the

museum director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. Marijke Brouwer,
Birnie gaat de ING-collectie achterna
, ''

Dagblad van het Noorden The ''Dagblad van het Noorden'' (; en, Daily of the North), abbreviated as ''DvhN'', is a Dutch regional daily newspaper that is published and circulated in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe in the northeastern Netherlands. The newspaper is ...

'', 2012. Retrieved on 20 July 2014. Annemiek Rens is the chief curator. In 2013, the museum had 227,000 visitors.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1854 establishments in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Assen History museums in the Netherlands Museums established in 1854 Museums in Drenthe Natural history museums in the Netherlands