“Even the most complicated details are perfect”

 – De Volkskrant

Dutch National Glass Museum collects, examines and exhibits glass art and design from 1850 onwards. It serves as the Netherlands’ treasury, laboratory and centre of knowledge on glass. The Glass Museum was started in 1953 in the house of Petrus Marinus Cochius, director of Leerdam glass manufacturers and founder of the Leerdam glass tradition.

Having two villas is charming, but provides the visitor with nothing else than to walk from one small room to another. By linking the two buildings, continuous exhibition rooms are created. The connection is more than a corridor; it is display space itself and becomes part of the visitor’s experience. Furthermore, the connecting bridges serve as the museum’s storage space. This open storage is fully accessible, making the National Glass Museum the Netherland’s first museum to give public access to its complete collection. You can find more detailed information in this PDF-file.

Het Nationaal Glasmuseum became No. 1 in De Volkskrant’s top 10 new buildings after its renovation: “Cleverly, an awkward museum has been transformed here into an intriguing succession of exhibition spaces,” and, “Old and new sections have both been left completely to their own devices, and even the trickiest connections have been made perfectly.”

Dutch National Glass Museum is listed in the Dutch Yearbook of Architecture 2010/2011.