Museums, Utrecht

The 'Universiteitsmuseum' has an interesting collection of medical and animal history. It is also very nice for children to visit. A whole floor is dedicated to all sorts of fun scientific tests and games.
The museum also has a beautiful botanic garden and you can enjoy a drink in the museum cafe or in the garden.

Article about the Bleuland collection of preserved body parts end 1700s, published in an academic history magazine, written by my son

This museum is the oldest municipal museum in Netherlands founded in 1838 has several permanent collections as well as special exhibitions, do make sure you request a free audio guide in the laguage of your choice.

I absolutely loved the dollhouse of Petronella de la Court showing all the intricate details of a 17th centuary dutch residence. These dollhouses were not meant to be played with by children but rather they were colections for ladies in affulent social circles. There are real minature 17th centuary paintings by dutch masters. There are 28 dolls in total dressed in the fashion of the time. The garden is ordained with statues which showed your social status in those days.

The museum itself is housed partly in a medieval cloister and if you can find the chapel within the labyrinth of passages you are in for a treat. Outside there are stables which are now used as another part of the museum currently being renovated.

A permanent exhibition is a medieval type of river barge discovered to be from the Netherlands. It is 17.8m long and made from one tree trunk built in the year 1,000 it is well preserved in the museum so be aware that there is a strange smell in the humidified room they keep it in.

Other temporary collections were of Gerrit Thomas Rietwield furniture designs. He was most famous for the early 1918 frame red and blue chair and his 1924 Schroeder House in Utrecht. See some of his furniture designs on display until 30th Aug 2009, its certainly not ikea.

Part of the 3 museum entry ticket Eur8

The Utrecht Archives is housed in a rather impressive building downstairs they have a computerised archive system that holds records dating back to the 11th centuary. You can trace your genealogy here with access to population records, marriage, birth and death certificates from 1811 – 1942. When we visited there was a grandfather and grandchild making up a newspaper for themselves of relevant historic events that perhaps occurred in the granddads time and tracing their family roots. Downstairs as well is a collection of short movies relevant to historic events in Utrecht which you can select and view at your leisure as well as take a virtual tour of places in Utrecht along the main canal.

Upstairs I believe is a large library with a collection of 70,000 books, magazines and newspapers. Also there is access to approximately 500,000 drawings, maps and photographs from which prints can be ordered. There was an exhibition of postcards of Utrecht through the ages and the former prison cells have also been turned into an exhibition. The building used to be a monastery and you can still see traces of the Paulus Abbey, see the Gothic pointed arch used by the Benedictine monks to get the chapter hall. Visit the storage cellar and meet the ghost of this establishment!!

There is English information on paper when you enter the archives but the displays are mostly in dutch.

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Dick Bruna is the creater of Miffy or known by the dutch as Njintje. This delightful little girl bunny was designed in 1955 and helped Dick Bruna to have worldwide fame. She is so popular that she has her own statue in Utrecht and her own television program and is up there on the top ten dutch exports. Dick Bruna wrote and illustrated 100+ books which have been translated into over 40 laguages and sold 80M copies worldwide.
These children's books are colourful and teach children simple lessons in a fun way

The museum is open Tues - Sunday 11am - 5pm. The focus downstairs is more interactive for the children whilst upstairs the adults can learn more about the author. They organise events for children 3-6yrs old. I am such a fan of miffy that I went to our childrens museum in London specially to see the Happy Birthday miffy exhibition. As you go in there is a free audio guide but I gather you have to ask as the staff were a bit unhelpful.

Do be aware that the entrance cost is Eur8 combined with 2 other museums (tickets not sold separately) you can only purchase the entrance tickets at the Centraal museum across the way. The building that houses this collection was previously used as a mad house.

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Hollands national railway museum is situated in the impressive Maliebaan station in the city. The main building is very ornate (see photo) and used for conferences and meetings and then a short walk takes you in to the large exhibition hall where you can see a static display of trains from Hollands railway history. With a headset (English available) you can take a walk through County Durham in the UK where the railway was invented and then move on to a very good recreation of Haarlem in 1839 when the first train ran in Holland. The driver of the train was English and I felt quite honoured.
The theatre has live shows through the day and an assistant told me this was a film show. It was a one woman show on travel on the Orient Express and quite visual so worth seeing if you do not speak Dutch - without seeing this you miss the small train ride under and alongside some exhibits.
Good cafe and generally disabled friendly. Great for children - there is a play area outside.
Allow at least 3 hours.

This is a really fun museum for all ages. Situated in an old unused station you can experience railing through the invention of steam engines right to the present day.

The website below (English version) is already a fun way to get acquainted.

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My paternal grandfather was a railwayman, so I suppose trains are in my blood. I've always loved railway travel. Finding, by accident, the Spoorwegmuseum (Railway Museum) therefore made it an absolute must see. Entrance is a fairly hefty €12:50 for adults but it was worth every cent.

I don't really know where to begin. The Museum is housed in the old Maliebaan station, which is hugely impressive in itself. Indeed, if you are a real railway enthusiast, there are special trains several time a day linking the Central Station to here, so you can actually arrive by train.

Passing the splendour of the Station, you go out the back to a huge hall where there are old trains of every shape and size. Have a look at the photos for a general idea.

As well as the trains, many of which you can actually get on, there is a train driving simulator and an interactive tour round de Arend,which was the first train in Holland in 1839. Apparently, it was driven by an Englishman! There is a "ghost train" which carries you through all sorts of old trains etc. in a supposedly haunted goods yard.

Outside, there are yet more trains, carriages and whatnot to see. There is an old turntable, a recreated signal box from Groningen, a water tower and numerous other interesting things.

There are all sorts of things for youngsters outside, including their own kiddies train and handcarts which they can propel along a short track. The foul weather prevented my wandering into the maze! If you're wondering why the weather looks so good in some of the photos, I took those on Monday, when the Museum is shut. When I actually visited, it was pouring down!

Although I visited on a November weekday, the place was quite full and I suspect it gets very busy in the holidays. I must admit to having had a bit of a camera frenzy, to the extent that I'm going to have to create an album on my homepage to accomodate more of the photos than I can here. Have a look.

This well thought out museum will absolutely delight kids of all ages. Thoroughly recommended.

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The hall is full of antique engins; steam engins,more recent diesel locs and carriages. Wonderful! I wonder how they can keep them so shiny. They are all incredibly clean! (a woman's remark, of course he he)

Some of them are open and some can be visited with a guide who tells the story of the specific loc or carriage.

There is also a post carriage. -Remember that post trains ride at night.- This carrige feels as if the train is riding. Post bags are shaking and when you look outside the windows, you see little lights passing by, just as if the train was riding at night.
A great reconstruction!
This museum is really different!