Even though the museums in the Netherlands are closed, you can still visit many museums at home, from the couch. Find out about the best Dutch Virtual Museum Tours.
Last week, April 20-26, was the Digital Dutch Museum Week 2020. During this week the ‘golden’ showpieces of museums in the Netherlands got special attention online. This year there was special attention for virtual museum tours and workshops that you can follow from home. Because of this Museum Week I discovered many new museums online!
Below I will share my favorite free virtual museum tours in the Netherlands.
1) Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam has an impressive collection of more than eight thousand showpieces. The digital offer is also well developed: experience the museum online with an audio tour and high-quality close-ups of paintings. This digital experience is available in English. It is one of the best.
2) Mauritshuis
You can do the online 3D Tour at The Mauritshuis in The Hague to see the world’s best Dutch and Flemish artworks from the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.
3) Meet Vermeer
At Google Arts & Culture you can view all of Vermeer’s paintings in a virtual exhibition. The two Dutch museums you can explore are Mauritshuis and Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
4) Dordrechts Museum
Another way to explore museums is via Google Street View. At the Dordrechts Museum you can see a varied collection with Dutch paintings from the 16th century until now. This museum has the biggest Ary Scheffer collection in the world.
5) Groninger Museum
Do the 360 degrees tour and explore the Chihuly exhibition at Groninger Museum. This museum has modern, colorful art from both well-known and lesser-known artists and offers exhibitions focusing on fashion, design, and photography.
6) Westfries Museum
Learn more about the Dutch Golden Age in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn. You can walk through a virtual 3D model of the museum to explore 27 rooms full of art in a beautiful building. Although the extra information is only available in Dutch, it is still worth a visit.
7) Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
At the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, you can learn about the fascinating culture of the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans using Google Street View. Inside this museum, you can see the sister temple of the Temple of Debod that I visited in Madrid.
8) Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Explore contemporary, modern, and classical art at Rijksmuseum Twenthe. At the museum, you can see the art of Breitner, Breughel, Ruisdael and Redon, Jongkind, Monet, and many others. Unfortunately, close-ups are not possible and the information is in Dutch only.
9) CODA Museum
Google Earth Art with Agnes Martin. The work of Agnes Martin is part of the exhibition The Future is Female – Love Letters at CODA Museum. While the information is in Dutch only, you can simply copy the coordinates listed on this page to Google Earth (in Chrome) to find the abstract art Agnes Martin wants to share with us. If you are looking for something different!
10) Museum Huis Doorn
The last one! Explore the estate of Huis Doorn in a virtual panoramic tour. You can scroll through the photo spots and look around. No walking tour unfortunately and the info is in Dutch only, but the pictures are high quality and give you the feeling you are outside exploring the estate.
What’s your favorite virtual museum tour? Where should I go next?
