Het Prinsenhof ("The Court of the Prince") is a museum in the city of

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

in the

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 ...

. Formerly the monastery of St Agatha, the building changed purpose over time. The whole building came into the possession of Delft City Council by 1925, who gradually converted the building into a museum. Today, the museum shows a variety of art from

Dutch Golden Age painting Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

s, prints, cermaics and contemporary art.

History of the Building

The building was constructed in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

as a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

. Later it served as a residence for the Dutch statesman

William the Silent William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburg Netherlands, Habsburgs that set off the ...

. William was assassinated in the Prinsenhof by

Balthasar Gérard Balthasar Gérard (alternative spellings Gerards or Gerardts; c. 1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassination, assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange-Nassau, House of Orange (William the Silent, and lat ...

in 1584 - the holes in the wall made by the bullets at the main stairs are still visible.

Organisation

The museum receives the majority of its funding from Delft City Council, and had overall costs of 5.834m Euros in 2023. It attracted just over 134,000 visitors in 2023. Janelle Moerman has been the director since 2017.

Gallery

KogelgatenPrinsenhof.jpg, Bullet holes from the assassination of William the Silent at the main stairs of the Prinsenhof Delft - Prinsenhof in the Netherlands.jpg, Former St. Agatha church Prinsenhof-2006 1.jpg, The garden of the Prinsenhof

References

External links

Prinsenhof municipal museum
* Rijksmonuments in Delft Museums in South Holland {{SouthHolland-geo-stub