The Arsenal building in Delft Stone coat of arms on the Armamentarium (Oude Delft side) The Koninklijk Nederlands Legermuseum (''Royal Dutch Army Museum'') was the national museum of the

Dutch Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing army one of the ...

. Until 2013, it was located in the Armamentarium in

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 2013 it was merged with the Militaire Luchtvaartmuseum (Military Aviation Museum) and relocated to the former airbase at

Soesterberg Soesterberg is a town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Soest, and lies about 5 km northeast of Zeist, on the road between Amersfoort and Utrecht. It was the location of Soesterberg Air Base History T ...

. The merged museum called the

Militaire Luchtvaart Museum The Militaire Luchtvaart Museum was located at Camp Zeist near the former Soesterberg Air Base. It was the official museum of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. In 2006 the Ministry of Defence decided to merge three military museums in the Netherlan ...

was opened on 13 May 2009.

History

It originated in the private collection of

Frederic Adolph Hoefer Frederic Adolph Hoefer (14 April 1850 – 7 October 1938) was a Dutch lieutenant-general, militaria collector and archivist. He trained at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie and is notable for founding the Legermuseum and restoring Doorwerth Castl ...

, who bought

Doorwerth Castle Doorwerth Castle () is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. History The original castle, probably wooden, is first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and burned to the ground, after which it ...

to display it to the public. It was opened there on 5 August 1913 as the ''Nederlandsch Artillerie Museum'' (''Dutch Artillery Museum'') by Prince Henry. The

Minister of War A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

later renamed that museum the Dutch Army Museum Foundation (of which Hoefer remained chairman until his death). Shortly after the outbreak of World War II it was decided to move the museum from Doorwerth Castle to the Pesthuis 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 ...

(the latter was then being rented by the Ministry of War from the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

), but the war delayed the restoration work and the museum only opened in its new location in 1956. In 1959 the Foundation was also given the Armamentarium in Delft, with the minister of Defence opening a display there in 1986 in the presence of

Prince Bernhard Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was Prince of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen Juliana. They had four daughters to ...

. The museum was given its royal prefix in 1973. The museum as a whole was opened on its new Delft premises in 1989 by

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born ...

References

External links

Official page
Buildings and structures in Delft Army museums in the Netherlands Museums in South Holland {{Netherlands-museum-stub