Search Results
Abstract
Visitors to Teyler’s Museum will probably notice a metal plaque to the left of the entrance stating that this is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. Installed on the monumental façade in the 1980s, this is only one of many statements on the pedigree of this wonderful institution, including its core, the famous Oval Room, created in 1784. 1 However, presenting Teyler’s Museum as the oldest museum in the Netherlands suggests that it was also the first one, which is problematic. As we shall see, historically speaking ‘museum’ is a fluid concept, not as now ‘a building in which objects of historical, artistic, scientific and cultural interest are stored and exhibited’. 2 Consequently it is difficult to identify Teyler’s Museum as a milestone. Rather than being a timeless institution for conservation, display and education, open to the public, a ‘museum’ evolved since the sixteenth century from being a private space for discussion, contemplation and scientific investigation.