Anyone who is not familiar with the museum can easily miss it. The entrance: a low gate in what appears to be a completely closed facade of a former monastery. If you do see the gate and walk under it, you can still miss the entrance by accidentally walking straight ahead into the former monastery garden. The entrance is an inconspicuous door just around the corner, after which you first enter a hall and then a larger room with a ticket desk and museum shop.
But that is going to change, now that the Delft city council approved the 'Business case Renovation and Restoration Prinsenhof Delft'. The decision means that Delft will contribute 18 million euros to a renovation of Museum Prinsenhof that will cost 38 million – and for which the museum will close for two years, 2025 and 2026. With a donation of 10 million from the Delft Vlek family and important subsidies from the South Province -Holland and the Friends Lottery, the amount of 38 million is almost complete. There is still 4.5 million missing, Museum Prinsenhof hopes for a contribution from the government.
That money will soon be used to tackle not only access, but the entire museum. With its many narrow stairs, its crawl-by-sneak-through halls and rooms, its lack of modern climate control and therefore shuttered windows everywhere, the building no longer meets the requirements of the time. “It's a bit of a maze,” says Janelle Moerman, the director, as we walk from room to room over centuries-old stone floors: “Are you careful?” she warns when getting on or off the steps. The covered windows not only make the front facade appear to be one long wall, but also that as a visitor to the building you quickly lose your orientation: there is virtually no view outside anywhere.
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A Jan Schoonhoven above the mantelpiece
Made of glass
Janelle Moerman has been director since 2017. She has been involved from the start in the plans for the renovation, which were canceled before the donation by the Vlek family in 2021 as too expensive for the municipality, which then had to make cuts. The most important question regarding the plans: how can you modernize without damaging the monument? Janelle Moerman: “We were fortunate that there has only been one drastic intervention in five hundred years, a renovation seventy years ago. Then extensions were added that are historicizing, they seem hundreds of years old but they are not.”
The extensions disappear to make way for what are called transit spaces: two glass outbuildings with elevators and stairs, one on each side of the museum. There is currently no elevator in the museum. “Do you use a wheelchair or walker?” warns the museum website, “then you can use it as a walking and sitting aid; The condition for this is that you can go up and down the stairs yourself or with guidance.”
For better accessibility, many floors are also removed tile by tile or plank by plank, after which they are re-laid higher or lower so that they connect to each other without steps or steps. Where that is not possible, lifters come in: mini stair lifts for bridging two or three steps. Here and there, dividing walls will be removed, which will also contribute to a feeling of more spaciousness.
But perhaps most importantly: because modern climate control is being installed, the shutters on the windows will soon be able to be removed. Janelle Moerman: “You get a completely different experience of the museum, everywhere you walk you have a view of the garden or the city.” And vice versa: anyone walking past the museum will literally be able to look inside through the currently covered windows in the facade. The low gate will have a ceramic surround “and will therefore stand out much more.” Once through the gate, it will be clear where the new entrance is, a path through the garden will soon lead directly to it.
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