During a project that took place in the summer of 2018 in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, by itself a marvelous historical location built in the seventeenth century, the curators took us back to the Late Medieval period. In this exhibition, visitors get an insight into the process of painting in the fifteenth century. On […]
Author: Public History Student
Which voice would be the public’s choice?
Like many other cities, Amsterdam likes to cling to the time when it was the centre of the world. In the exhibition ‘Amsterdam Magisch Centrum (Amsterdam Magical Centre)’ this centre position, for once, is not situated in the seventeenth century Dutch Golden Age, but in the rousing sixties. It was the artist and well known […]
Digitising the Kaasmuseum – was it worth it?
As a Dutchwoman with roots in Noord-Holland, cheese making is something that my ancestors, if they did not actually partake in it themselves, would at least have been very familiar with. The Hollands Kaasmuseum (Holland Cheese Museum) in Alkmaar is therefore a place I long felt I should visit at some point, and now, with […]
Projecting your own expressionist art?
Everyone, including me, who ever visited a modern or contemporary art museum can get a little bit confused by its content. ‘How can this be art?’ ‘What has this to do with art history?’ or ‘How can you find this just as beautiful as the great works of Rembrandt or Da Vinci?’ are questions that […]
Digital cannon balls: the siege of Alkmaar told in a multi-inclusive way
On September 16th, I visited the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar (SMA). According to it’s website, the museum claims to be the memory of Alkmaar where one can experience and discover the history and art of this city and its surroundings. The museum has several permanent and temporary exhibitions. I paid a visit to Victorie! Het Beleg van […]
Hilde’s house: ‘a digital experience’
In 1995, during archaeological research a skeleton was found near the Dutch city of Castricum. The skeleton was more than 1600 years old and turned out to be a woman from the 4th century. She was probably between 24 and 30 years old and she originally came from East Germany. After further research the University […]
Digging into digital techniques
It is cold, you are descending into a dark, damp, cave-like cellar, you do not see much, everyone around you is silent. Can you still turn around? Yes! But don’t, because you are entering a museum called DOMunder: a fascinating place that promises to teach you all about 2000 years of history in Utrecht, the […]
The Dutch Canon as a digital cannon
Bringing together the entire history of the Netherlands in one exhibition: that sounds almost impossible. Nevertheless, a brave attempt has been made. Exactly a year ago, the permanent exhibition De Canon van Nederland (the Dutch Canon) opened in the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum) in Arnhem. About fifty windows showing the historical and cultural […]
A (digital) chain is only as strong as its weakest (web)link
Outside the museum that once started with one of the earliest public collections of the ethnographic type, the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden, hangs a huge poster with different photographs on it of all kinds of people from all over the world. Pronto the attention of the soon-to-be-visitor is drawn to the different faces on the […]
A Journey Back in Time Through the Eyes of a German Doctor: an Analysis of Het Sieboldhuis
The Japanese people have evolved greatly since abandoning their isolationist attitude originating from 1854. Their isolationist attitude caused Japan to be a rather closed society that did not accept any foreign intervention, cultures and influences. However, the Dutch Republic was allowed to establish a trading post on the artificial island Deshima, near Nagasaki. This trading […]