Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

and history in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Founded in 1874, its collection ranges from early works by

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the h ...

and

Lucas van Leyden Lucas van Leyden (1494 – 8 August 1533), also named either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, was a Dutch painter and printmaker in engraving and woodcut. Lucas van Leyden was among the first Dutch exponents of genre painting and was a very ac ...

's ''Last Judgement'' to modern classics of

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

and artworks created by contemporary artists such as Claudy Jongstra,

Atelier van Lieshout Joep van Lieshout (born 1963), is a Dutch artist and sculptor born in Ravenstein, Netherlands, Ravenstein, Netherlands, and founder of Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL). Life and work Van Lieshout received his formal education and training from the ...

. One notable collection is that of fijnschilder paintings from the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

. Besides its permanent collection, the museum runs temporary exhibitions and public events.

History of the building

The museum building was erected in 1640 by Arent van 'Gravesande as a

cloth hall A cloth hall or linen hall (; ; ; ) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from Medieval architecture, medieval times into the 18th century. A cloth hall contained trading st ...

(''lakenhal'' in Dutch) – a

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

hall for cloth merchants. The museum was founded in 1874 as a ''stedelijk'' museum (municipal museum). Since 1874, the space taken up by the museum has gradually grown. An exhibition hall was added at the end of the nineteenth century and a new wing in 1922. A complete (and prize-winning) renovation took place between 2016 and 2019, at a cost of around 19m euros. Susanna van Steenwijk - Lakenhal 1642

Collections

Like other municipal museums in the Netherlands, the Lakenhal became a repository for municipal art collections. Artifacts from Leiden are on display, such as a series of stained glass windows by Willem Thibaut commissioned for the Leiden city hall, now installed in the stairwells. On permanent display is also the old inspection room or ''Staalmeesterskamer'', where cloth was inspected, and the meeting hall where disputes were decided. Four large paintings depicting the cloth industry by Isaac van Swanenburg hang in the same spots on the walls as designed. Similarly, a grand over-the-mantel piece by

Carel de Moor Carel de Moor (25 February 1655 – 16 February 1738) was a Dutch Golden Age etcher and painter. He was a pupil of the Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter Gerard Dou. Biography Carel de Moor was born in Leiden. According to Hou ...

shows the inspectors in a massive wooden frame decorated with their family shields, flanked by a series of three historical allegories of the city of Leiden by Abraham Lambertsz van den Tempel. The museum hosts a collection of

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s and religious artifacts from before the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

that were formally ceded to the state in 1572. The museum also includes a reconstructed ''statie'' or Catholic

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

from after the Reformation. Because the Catholic religion was banned, there was no official church, and all of the Catholic places of worship in the young Dutch Republic were called mission stations. These were semi-hidden churches that were tolerated and taxed by the state. The collection also includes ''A Pedlar Selling Spectacles (Allegory of Sight)'', one of a series of five, '' The Senses'', by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

. The museum was closed for restoration and expansion from 2016 to 2019. On its reopening in June 2019, and until February 2020, the museum had on display a newly identified painting by Rembrandt, '' Suffer little children to come unto me'', showing Jesus preaching.

Organisation

The current director is Tanja Elstgeest. The museum's budget, as of 2021, is around 5m euros. 2021 saw 29,281 visitors, although that figure was affected by Covid-19 lockdowns.

References

External links

Museum website

Gallery

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001013142 Gezicht op de Lakenhal aan de Oude Singel.jpeg, The Lakenhal Museum (19th century) File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001013143 Gezicht op de toegang tot de Lakenhal aan de Oude Singel.jpeg, Entrance to the museum (19th century) File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001015544 Lakenhal aan de Oude Singel in Leiden.jpeg, Lakenhal (19th century) {{Authority control 1874 establishments in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands Museums established in 1874 Museums in Leiden 19th-century architecture in the Netherlands Buildings of the Dutch Golden Age Baroque architecture in the Netherlands