The lost museum exhibition opens its doors to visitors between 12 September and 5 January.
Did you know that before 1875, the Mauritshuis used to be home to not one, but two museums? While the top floor had a famous collection of paintings on display, the ground floor housed a ‘cabinet of rarities’ filled with thousands of objects from all over the world. This was the ‘Royal Cabinet of Rarities’, which was open from 1822 to 1875. In the lost museum exhibition, we have temporarily returned this former museum to its original location with over 120 objects on loan.
The Royal Cabinet of Rarities was a major crowd-pleaser in the 19th century; a day out that you didn’t want to miss. It was packed floor to ceiling with fascinating objects; more than 10,000 in fact! During your visit to the exhibition you will discover some of the unique objects that were displayed in this museum, from jewellery, dolls, vases, perfume bottles, armour, and weapons, to a pagoda and even braids of hair!
The Royal Cabinet of Rarities closed its doors for good after 60 years. In the lost museum exhibition, the Mauritshuis reflects on this past. After all, the 19th-century world view still influences how museums tell stories to this day. Was the lost museum really lost?
