{"id":14615,"date":"2026-05-20T22:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14615\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:34:18","slug":"the-10-best-museums-in-the-hague-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14615\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best Museums In The Hague, Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Likeable and eminently liveable, The Hague<\/a> is one of the most appealing cities in the Netherlands<\/a>. Among other things, it\u2019s distinguished by the range and quality of its museums, which are mostly located in the city centre or amidst the northern outskirts, a quick tram ride away. <\/p>\n

The Hague\u2019s most celebrated museums feature the wonderful paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th-century high point when world-famous painters \u2013 think Rembrandt<\/a> and Vermeer<\/a> \u2013 plied their trade here. But there is much more: museums that explore the nature of the city itself, another that investigates crime and punishment, a playful contemporary art museum in the coastal Scheveningen district, and several that focus on the charming land- and seascapes of the late-19th-century Hague School of painters. <\/p>\n

Mauritshuis <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Mauritshuis\" <\/p>\n

Simply exquisite, the Mauritshuis is The Hague\u2019s finest art gallery. Its internationally famous collection of Dutch art is shoehorned into a charming mansion that dates back to 1641. Much of the interior you see today is original, and the silk wall coverings and monumental painted ceilings provide an ideal setting for a mesmerising range of 17th-century Dutch art. Highlights include portraits by Rubens, several stunning pieces by Rembrandt, and \u2013 perhaps most famous of all \u2013 three wonderful canvases by Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Diana and her Nymphs and View of Delft. Whatever else you do while you\u2019re in The Hague, don\u2019t miss this. <\/p>\n

Escher in Het Paleis <\/p>\n

Art Gallery,Museum<\/p>\n

\"Escher <\/p>\n

Right in the centre of The Hague, Lange Voorhout is the city\u2019s most delightful square; a wide, cobbled piazza shaded by trees and flanked by a long line of handsome mansions. One of these grand buildings \u2013 a former royal residence \u2013 has been cleverly refashioned to display the lithographs and engravings of Escher, the country\u2019s most talented \u2013 and internationally famous \u2013 graphic artist, who died in 1972. Strikingly original, Escher\u2019s works are extraordinarily precise and often bewildering, for example, his Contrast (Order and Chaos). The most popular exhibits are, however, on the top floor, which is devoted to several eye- and mind-boggling optical illusions based on Escher\u2019s works. <\/p>\n

Vredespaleis <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Vredespaleis\" <\/p>\n

With its mighty clock tower dominating proceedings, the Vredespaleis (Peace Palace) is perhaps The Hague\u2019s most unusual building, a grand neo-Renaissance structure completed in 1913. The Scottish-American industrialist, Andrew Carnegie, funded the palace for the best of motives \u2013 it was to be the home of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which aimed to secure international peace. In one of the great ironies of the time, however, just as the marble, stained glass and fancy furnishings were arriving, so Europe was gearing up for World War I. Nowadays, the palace is home to several international law courts, but visitors can stroll many of its grand corridors \u2013 and pop into the visitor centre for the historical low-down. <\/p>\n

Museum Beelden aan Zee <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Museum <\/p>\n

Playful and thought-provoking in equal measure, the Museum Beelden aan Zee features contemporary sculpture displayed in an inventive modern building that bores and burrows its way through the sand dunes above the beach at Scheveningen, on the edge of The Hague. The museum has a first-rate permanent collection but it\u2019s the temporary exhibitions that attract the most attention \u2013 justifiably, as they are wildly entertaining. Allow spare time also to take a peek at the bizarre \u2013 and bizarrely comic \u2013 Fairytale Sculptures that line up above the beach outside the museum, the work of the American sculptor Tom Otterness. <\/p>\n

Museum Bredius <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Museum <\/p>\n

Abraham Bredius, one-time director of the Mauritshuis, was an art collector par excellence, a generous benefactor who bequeathed his splendid collection of paintings to the city when he died in 1946. The paintings are displayed in a fine old mansion, where elaborate stucco work and a magnificent staircase make the perfect setting. It\u2019s an easily absorbed collection, which adds to the pleasure of a visit, and one in which pride of place goes to Rembrandt\u2019s Head of Christ. Other highlights include the green foliage and fighting beasts of Roelandt Savery\u2019s Boar Hunt and several lascivious-meets-bawdy canvases by Jan Steen, most memorably, a distinctly fruity Couple in a Bedchamber. <\/p>\n

Panorama Mesdag <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Panorama <\/p>\n

Banker, artist and local bigwig, Hendrik Mesdag (1831\u20131915) was not, perhaps, the most modest of men, but he did pull off one major artistic coup \u2013 a large and naturalistic painting of the beach at Scheveningen as it was in 1881. Completed in four months, with a little help from his friends, this circular painting \u2013 his ‘panorama’ \u2013 is an intriguing work, the skills of its lighting and perspective seen to good advantage from a central viewing platform. If the Panorama Mesdag whets your appetite, there\u2019s more of his work \u2013 mostly land- and seascapes \u2013 on display nearby at his old home and studio, now the Mesdag Collection. <\/p>\n

Haags Historisch Museum <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Haags <\/p>\n

Slap bang in the middle of The Hague, in an imposing 17th-century mansion, this exemplary museum tracks through the diverse history of the city. A digitised map demonstrates how The Hague has developed over the centuries, but the star turns are the finely crafted portraits of the great and the good, plus a large and exquisite painting entitled A View of The Hague from the Southeast by Jan van Goyen. Watch out also for the temporary exhibitions about The Hague and its inhabitants. <\/p>\n

Kunstmuseum den Haag <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Kunstmuseum <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest here, the Kunstmuseum is best suited to the serious museum-goer \u2013 or at least the visitor with clear intentions. This is the largest and most diverse of The Hague’s museums, its vast hoard of applied and fine art distributed within a building whose soft-brown brick facades were designed by the renowned architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage. The museum is well known for the quality of its temporary exhibitions and it\u2019s these that pull in many visitors. If you are, however, keen to explore the permanent collections, it\u2019s best to decide beforehand which you want to see \u2013 otherwise you may well feel swamped. For most, the prime attraction is the angular work of the De Stijl movement, especially that of Mondrian. <\/p>\n

Museum de Gevangepoort <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Museum <\/p>\n

Opened in 1882, the intriguing Museum Gevangepoort (Prison Gate Museum) occupies the old town’s prison, a labyrinthine, medieval affair which is squeezed into one of the old fortified gates. The main draw here is the museum\u2019s collection of instruments of interrogation, punishment and torture, from branding irons, hand clamps and flogging benches to racks and stretching poles \u2013 all the paraphernalia by which the rebellious and the criminal were kept in check. The museum makes a gallant effort to explore the nature of crime and punishment, but the sheer gruesomeness of the exhibits can overexcite visiting school parties. <\/p>\n

Museon <\/p>\n

Museum<\/p>\n

\"Museon\" <\/p>\n

On the northern edge of the city is Museon, where an extensive range of child-friendly, interactive exhibitions focus on nature, culture and technology. There is something for just about every youngster here, but one of the key exhibits, One Planet, encourages visitors to think about the climate crisis. It takes its cue from the 17 sustainable development goals specified by the United Nations \u2013 such as the impacts of fast fashion, wasting water and plastic pollution \u2013 and hopes to inspire children to create solutions. Look out also for the temporary exhibitions: a particularly fascinating one on the frozen prehistoric body found in the Alps in 1991 recently featured. <\/p>\n

Trips and Tours in Europe <\/p>\n

Architectural Landmark<\/p>\n

\"Trips <\/p>\n

Planning your travels on the continent? Make them extra special with the help of a friendly local guide on one of the many amazing multi-day tours in our Europe collection. From sunny vacations on the Med to border-crossing extravaganzas across Central Europe, there are plenty of itineraries to choose from. <\/p>\n

This article is an updated version of a story originally created by Tom Coggins<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Become a Culture Tripper! <\/p>\n

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\"girl <\/p>\n

If you click on a link in this story, we may earn affiliate revenue. All recommendations have been independently sourced by Culture Trip. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Likeable and eminently liveable, The Hague is one of the most appealing cities in the Netherlands. Among other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12101,12106,2325,12102,18,12105,12104,952,4255,6,2754,7514,12103,42],"class_list":["post-14615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-hague","tag-boasts","tag-collections","tag-design","tag-distinguished","tag-europe","tag-fine","tag-graphic","tag-hague","tag-museums","tag-netherlands","tag-quality","tag-range","tag-roster","tag-the-hague"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}