Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar – discover the history of Alkmaar

One of the oldest museums in the Netherlands is located in Alkmaar. The Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar was opened in 1875 and is now housed in a modern museum building on Canadaplein.

In addition to the three permanent exhibitions, new special exhibitions are shown regularly. The aim of the museum is to present and preserve the cultural heritage of Alkmaar and the surrounding region.

Visit the permanent exhibitions

The permanent exhibition presents part of the Allemaal Alkmaar city collection. During the tour, you “wander” through the history of the city and the surrounding region. Topics covered include Alkmaar and slavery and the history of the city’s shooting guilds.

One focus is on the period from 1573 onwards, the time when the people of Alkmaar defended themselves against the Spanish army. The second focus is on Alkmaar in the 17th century and the third focus is on “De Bergense School”.

Well-known painters of the time, such as Emanuel de Witte and Pieter Saenredam, have taken up individual themes in their paintings, some of them very impressively. Each artist presents their own perspective on the period. I find it quite fascinating to see how differently the themes depicted were perceived.

The paintings in the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar are truly unique. Highlights include paintings from before the Protestant Reformation, works by Golden Age painters and expressionist paintings from the Bergen School from the early 20th century. The older paintings include works by artists such as Frans Menton, Caesar van Everdingen, Pieter Jansz Saenredam and Maarten van Heemskerck. Admittedly, these are all artists I have never heard of, but who are well-known in the Netherlands.

The paintings by members of the Bergen School offer a contrast to the paintings by the “old” masters. The first expressionist art movement in the Netherlands emerged in and around Bergen around 1910. Well-known artists such as Else Berg, Leo Gestel and Bernhard Essers belonged to the movement. The works in the style of Expressionism and Cubism sometimes take some getting used to for me, but are no less interesting if you take the time to look at them more closely.

Are there any special works of art that are worth seeing?

A particular highlight is the cityscape by Salomon van Ruysdael from 1644, which is the most expensive purchase in the museum’s history. This painting shows a view of Alkmaar with the Sint Laurenskerk and is known for its historical accuracy and vivid depiction of the 17th century landscape.

Other notable works include portraits by Maarten van Heemskerck and the monumental interior of an imaginary Catholic church by Emanuel de Witte. The most famous work is certainly the depiction of the Last Supper by Cornelis Buys.

Very impressive is a large altarpiece of the Altar of St. Lawrence by Maarten van Heemskerck. It was originally created for the Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk. After the Reformation, it lost its function and was sold in 1581.

A museum for all the senses

I always find it very tiring to go through painting exhibitions and “only” look at pictures. The Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, however, was very different. We were given an audio guide at the entrance, so we were able to get more detailed information about individual periods and paintings.

Fortunately, the texts were very well spoken and also told in an exciting way. For example, when looking at the pictures in the section on the history of the marksmen’s guilds, it was not just a description of the pictures. Here, the tradition of the guilds was told quite vividly, so that I could imagine much more about the subject.

I had a lot of fun in Van der Heck’s “monster workshop”. Here I was able to design my own little monsters, which then floated across a wall as a digital projection. It wasn’t just the children around me who had fun!

In other areas, I discovered multimedia stations that were certainly aimed more at children, but which gave me a few ideas to take a closer look at art. For example, I was able to search for pictures at one station. I had to look for individual picture details in the overall work of art and pin them to a wall. You had to look very closely and I discovered some things on the original that I would certainly not have seen otherwise.

Good to know

Address

Canadaplein 1,
1811 KE Alkmaar, Niederlande

Website Museum

The visit to Alkmaar took place as part of a press trip with Visit Alkmaar .