Museum & Collection

The Zaans Museum

The Zaans Museum is a museum in Zaandam located at the Zaanse Schans. It opened in 1998 to preserve and protect the heritage of the Zaan region. In 2009, the museum was extended with the addition of the Verkade Experience.

In 2015, the Zaans Museum opened three living history museums at the Zaanse Schans: the Cooperage, the Jisper House, and the Weaver’s House.

Other annexes of the Zaans Museum are the Tsar Peter House and the Hembrug Museum in the centre of Zaandam.

Mission and strategy

The Zaans Museum is a culture and history museum that profiles itself as an educational and attractive public institution. The museum performs a social function and communicates with as wide a public as possible. The Zaans Museum is both physically connected with the Zaanse Schans and connected in terms of its exhibits. It sets itself the objective of offering extra depth to tourist visits to the Zaanse Schans.

News and press releases

Read the latest news and press releases of the Zaans Museum here.

Staff

Would you like to know the people who keep the Zaans Museum, Tsar Peter House, and other museums on the Zaanse Schans running so well?

Meet our staff and volunteers!

About the Collection

Collection Zaans Museum

The rich collection of the Zaans Museum reveals the local stories of the former residents, their lives and their work, the many innovations, and the industrial heritage. The museum collects objects from the Zaan region which date from the seventeenth century to the present. The collection contains over 32,000 objects.

Our collection is founded on the 1874 Zaanlandsche oudheden en merkwaardigheden exhibition (Zaan antiquities and curiosities) which was held in the former Zaandam city hall and which resulted in the creation of the antiquities room of Zaandijk. In 1998 this collection was given on loan to the newly built Zaans Museum. The Zaans Museum also started acquiring its own collection.

Collectie Stichting Behoud Cultureel Erfgoed Verkade

In 2009, the comprehensive collection of the Stichting Behoud Cultureel Erfgoed Verkade (foundation for the safeguarding of Verkade cultural heritage) was added to the collection of the Zaans Museum. This collection is presented in the Verkade Experience, which brings the history of biscuits and chocolate to life.

Tsar Peter House and Hembrug Museum collections

The Tsar Peter House in one of the oldest wooden houses in the Netherlands and contains a treasure trove of memories. Tsar Peter lodged here for seven days and slept in the box bed. Since 2003, the Tsar Peter House collection is part of the Zaans Museum.

The Hembrug collection has been part of the Zaans Museum since 2018, this collection shows the history of Hembrug as the as the heart of the defense line of Amsterdam. Part of this collection can be seen in the presentation of the Hembrug Museum.

Friends & Sponsors

A Friends Association is associated with the Zaans Museum. These Friends have been supporting the Zaans Museum for many years.

The Zaans Museum would not be able to operate without the support of its sponsors, partners, and patrons. We thank our patrons for their generous contributions.

If you would like to support a project or become a partner, take a look here for further information and a look at our patrons.

Loans and image requests

Loans

Before submitting a request, we kindly ask that you consult the terms and conditions for loans.

A loan request must be submitted in writing at least three months before the start of the loan for the attention of Marieke Verweij, Director of the Zaans Museum.

The request must contain the following information:
• Reason for the request
• Exact period of the loan
• Address and the contact details of the applicant
• Object list with object numbers
• Description of the manner of exhibition (display case, security, climate and light conditions, etc.)

For general questions regarding loans, please contact the collection registrar. collectie@zaansmuseum.nl

Requests for images

Request a hi-res image from the collection here for publications and other commercial purposes. You can download images for private use via the Online Collection. Permission for use must be requested for publications and other commercial purposes using the form below.

Image request form

Would you like to know more about our collection?

View our collection online