Drents Museum
Art museum; history museum
Established28 November 1854 (age 171)
LocationAssen, Drenthe, Netherlands
Visitors227,000 (2013)[1]
DirectorRobert van Langh[2]
CuratorAnnemiek Rens[3]
Websitewww.drentsmuseum.nl

The Drents Museum (ˈdrɛnts myˈzeːjʏm) is an art and history museum in Assen, Drenthe, the Netherlands.[4] Opened in 1854,[5] it has a collection of prehistoric artifacts, applied art and visual art, as well as temporary exhibitions. In 2023, it had 179,345 visitors.[6]

History

The museum was founded by the King's Commissioner of Drenthe on 28 November 1854 as the Provincial Museum of Drents Antiquities.[7]

On 6 November 2007, the museum announced that architect Erick van Egeraat was chosen to design a new extension for the museum. Total costs were estimated at eighteen million euros. The museum was closed from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011. At the beginning of 2010, a new modern depot facility for approximately 90,000 objects and works of art was completed. The new wing was opened officially in November 2011.[8]

The museum conducted a CT scan and endoscopy of a statue of Buddha that documented the presence of a mummy identified as that of a monk, Liuquan, a Buddhist master of the Chinese Medical School. The statue is reported to date to the 11th or 12th century. The mummy was put on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum through May 2015.[9][10]

2025 heist

Main article: 2025 Drents Museum heist

On 25 January 2025, a heist occurred at the museum, with thieves stealing gold artifacts from the museum. The thieves broke into the museum with explosives. The stolen artifacts included the 5th-century BCE Helmet of Coțofenești and three Dacian bracelets.[11] Police were alerted following reports of an explosion at 3:45 a.m. local time on the same day.[12] There was no guard in the museum at the time of the heist.[13]

On the 2nd of April 2026 it was announced that the helmet and two of the three bracelets had been recovered.[14]

Collection

The museum has a large permanent collection of prehistoric artifacts from the province of Drenthe. It includes exhibits of bog bodies such as the Yde Girl,[15] the Weerdinge Men,[16] Exloërmond Man, and the Emmer-Erscheidenveen Man.[17] There are finds from the Funnelbeaker culture, and the collection also includes the oldest recovered canoe in the world, the Pesse canoe, that dates between 8200 and 7600 BC.[18][19]

An annex building has period rooms demonstrating the lifestyle of well-to-do Drenthe families from various time periods. This building also houses ceramics from the House of Orange, known as the collection Bontekoe. In the garden stands a statue of Bartje Bartels, the main character of books by Anne de Vries,[20] and a symbol of the province of Drenthe.

The museum holds a permanent collection of figurative art with particular attention to Realism from northern Europe and representatives of the fourth generation of Dutch abstract figurative artists such as Matthijs Röling.[citation needed] There also is a collection of art and applied art from 1885 to 1935 with work by Vincent van Gogh, Jan Toorop, and Jan Sluijters.[citation needed]

Administration

Robert van Langh is the current museum director.[21] He started in 2025, replacing Harry Tupan, who had the job since 2017.[22] Annemiek Rens is the chief curator.[2]

In 2013, the museum had 227,000 visitors.[1] In 2023, it had 179,345 visitors.[6] In that same year, there was 81 staff taking around 57 full-time positions. [23]

References

  1. ^ (in Dutch) "2013: Overzicht bezoekcijfers musea in Nederland Archived 28 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Metro, 2013. Retrieved on 20 July 2014.
  2. ^ (in Dutch) https://drentsmuseum.nl/nieuws/eerste-dag-van-nieuwe-directeur-robert-van-langh]
  3. ^ Netherlands, Brink 1 9401 HS Assen The. "Annemiek Rens". CODART. Archived 9 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Drents Museum De Buitenplaats". museum.nl. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Our building". Drents Museum. Archived 10 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  6. ^ Jaarverslag 2023 [Annual Report 2023] (in Dutch). Drents Museum. p. 50. Archived 5 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Drents Museum (DM), NL | Partage-Plus". www.partage-plus.eu. Archived 19 January 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Drents Museum | Erick van Egeraat". erickvanegeraat.com. Archived 17 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  9. ^ Van Jaarsveldt, Janene, 1000-year-old Chinese Mummy Gets CT Scan in Amersfoort, NL Times, NL, 9 December 2014
  10. ^ Jobson, Christopher, CT Scan of 1,000-Year-Old Buddha Statue Reveals Mummified Monk Hidden Inside Archived 27 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Colossal, 21 February 2015
  11. ^ "Ancient gold artifacts stolen in Drents museum robbery". NL Times. 25 January 2025. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  12. ^ Aikman, Ian (2025-01-26). "Thieves use explosives to steal gold 'masterpieces' from Dutch museum". BBC. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
  13. ^ "Politie zoekt tips over gestolen auto in verband met kunstroof" (in Dutch). NOS. 2025-01-26. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
  14. ^ "A 2,500-year-old golden helmet, stolen in a museum heist last year, has been recovered". CNN. 2 April 2026. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  15. ^ "Bog mummie: Yde Girl". Mummytombs.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  16. ^ "Bog mummie: Weerdinge Men". Mummytombs.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  17. ^ "Bog mummie: Emmer-Erscheidenveen Man". Mummytombs.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  18. ^ Van Zeist, W. (1957), "De steentijd van Nederland", Nieuwe Drentse Volksalmanak. 75: 4–11
  19. ^ "The Mysterious Bog People - Background to the exhibition". Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. 5 July 2001. Archived 9 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
  20. ^ "Anne de Vries". Librarything.com. Archived 13 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  21. ^ "Drents Museum kondigt nieuwe directeur aan" (in Dutch). Drents Museum. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  22. ^ "Nieuwe directeur Drents Museum kijkt vooruit: 'Geen rol na kunstroof'". 24 June 2025.
  23. ^ Jaarverslag 2023, p. 61.