Villa Welgelegen - Museum Welgelegen

Museum Welgelegen

From 1814 to her death in 1828 Princes Wilhelmina of Prussia, who remembered the villa from her marriage, kept the villa as a summer palace and opened it to the public as a museum of modern art. After Wilhelmina died, Welgelegen housed many museums that later moved to Amsterdam or Leiden. In 1885 the "Museum van Levende Nederlandsche Meesters" was closed (especially since most of the "levende meesters" or living masters had since deceased), but the "Koloniaal Museum" (1871-1923) and the "Museum voor Kunstnijverheid" (1877-1926) remained open. When the Frans Hals Museum moved to its present location on the Klein Heiligland, the "Fotografisch Museum" (1913-ca.1918) was opened here (now called Spaarnestad Photo).