Reopening Ceramic Museum Goedewaagen

To our visitors and museum friends,

new opening hours
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we as a museum foundation have had to endure an extremely difficult operating period from the beginning of March 2020 in addition to a lockdown of more than 8 months in two periods together. Due to the current uncertainty of the situation, the limited availability of staff and plans to rebuild the front building of the factory, we are forced to revise the opening hours until further notice. The museum is open on working days from Wednesday to Friday from 12 to 4 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. At the request of the authorities, it is advisable to register the visit at mail@keramischmuseumgoedewaagen.nl - and not by telephone. In the museum, we adhere to the distance and hygiene guidelines of the RIVM.

Guided tours
As far as guided tours of the museum and the factory workshops are concerned, there is also a limitation compared to the time before the pandemic. Because there are no protected walking routes in the factory in accordance with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Foundation cannot offer guided tours of the factory workshops during the week. However, a comprehensive tour of the museum and factory workshops is possible at the weekend. This will enable you to visit more rooms than was possible in the period before Corona. Requests for groups of at least 4 people should be made at least two days in advance and again only via mail@keramischmuseumgoedewaagen.nl. During the week, guided tours for young and old are also possible on request via e-mail in the now greatly expanded museum.

information on exhibitions and collection
Through our Facebook page Keramisch Museum Goedewaagen we bring you regular news about our exhibitions, the museum collection and the production history of Dutch factories and designers.

Goedewaagen Ceramic Museum in Nieuw-Buinen (Drenthe)

The museum can be found on the provincial border of Drenthe and Groningen in Nieuw Buinen. The museum is a legally and financially independent foundation from the adjacent Royal Goedewaagen ceramics factory.

Visit Ceramic Museum Goedewaagen

What can I expect during a visit? The museum presents approximately 800 objects in temporary exhibitions and in a longer presentation of pottery from Art Nouveau and Art Déco. For the exhibition programme, see exhibitions, for the highlights of the collection and for new acquisitions, see donations. The Gouda Thesaurus is located in the museum's hallway. On a PC placed there, some 60 Powerpoint catalogues for the exhibitions and lectures since the year 2000 can be called up, containing around 10,000 illustrations. The museum is open every working day from 10:00 to 16:00 and at weekends from 13:00 to 17:00. Admission costs €6 per person and €3 for children aged 6 to 17.

The museum has prepared two major exhibitions in recent months. On the basis of a donation of more than 400 pieces of ceramics from a number of factories of the Goedewaagen group by the Meines family from Niebert, the museum is presenting the exhibition 'Goedewaagen's 20th century heritage of utility and decorative earthenware'. In close cooperation with a large number of private collectors from the Netherlands and the USA and with the assistance of the Drents Museum, the museum is also presenting a unique research project on the innovative art ceramics of the Porceleyne Fles from the period 1891-1914. Researcher Bart Verbrugge has compiled a richly illustrated publication on this theme.

Porceleyne Fles, porcelain bisque with decorations in matt green and gold, 1902, h. 41.8 cm; on loan coll. Meentwijck
Porceleyne Fles, porcelain bisque with decorations in matt green and gold, 1902, h. 41.8 cm; on loan coll. Meentwijck
Goedewaagen, coffee service Goudboon, 1957, for Smith, a coffee roaster in Groningen
Goedewaagen, coffee service Goudboon, 1957, for Smith, a coffee roaster in Groningen

Guided tours of museum and factory workshops?

The museum offers guided tours of the museum and factory workshops at set times during the week, see guided tours. Please make an appointment at least 24 hours in advance.

Goedewaagen, coffee service Goudboon, 1957, for Smith, a coffee roaster in Groningen
Goedewaagen, coffee service Goudboon, 1957, for Smith, a coffee roaster in Groningen

I have questions about the origin, age, trade price and insurance value of Dutch pottery.

The Royal Goedewaagen Earthenware Factory does not give any further information about what this factory and the eight other companies that merged into the Goedewaagen group produced in the past centuries. The museum has been doing so since 1998 and provides, as far as possible, thorough information about decorated Dutch earthenware from the period after 1875, the beginning of the industrial age for ceramics. The museum, which is not subsidised by any government, charges a modest fee for this public service of online determinations and valuations. See for the conditions determinations and valuations.
Curator Friggo Visser values a wall plate of the PZH painted by Jan van Schaick in department store Vanderveen in Assen. (Photography: DvhN, 23-11-2013)
Curator Friggo Visser values a wall plate of the PZH painted by Jan van Schaick in department store Vanderveen in Assen. (Photography: DvhN, 23-11-2013)

Can I paint pottery myself?

More favourably than anywhere else in the Netherlands, the Ceramic Museum Goedewaagen offers the opportunity to paint ceramics yourself. A unique experience for family and friend groups, school classes and business associations. Especially as the opportunity is given to make one's own choice of earthenware to be painted. Each painting workshop includes a guided tour of the museum.

Pupils of the Green School in Hoogeveen at a painting workshop in January 2008 - 01
Pupils of the Green School in Hoogeveen at a painting workshop in January 2008
Pupils of the Green School in Hoogeveen at a painting workshop in January 2008.
Pupils of the Green School in Hoogeveen at a painting workshop in January 2008.

Can you also advise on a necessary restoration?

Since 2011, the Ceramic Museum Goedewaagen also offers a restoration service. For this purpose, the museum is working together with Mrs. Hanne Friederichs from Leek, a highly experienced and knowledgeable restorer who works for MuseumgoudA, the Drents Museum, the Museum Het Princessehof and many major collectors. Whenever possible, Mrs Friederichs holds a meeting in the museum on the last Sunday afternoon of the month. See the bi-monthly programme of activities.

Restorer Hanne Friederichs at work (Photography: www.dekoppele.nl)
Restorer Hanne Friederichs at work (Photography: www.dekoppele.nl)
Goedewaagen pipe with dog and lens, c. 1900; part of an almost 300-piece pipe collection of J. Alblas; purchased and donated to the museum by the Dutch Federation of Pipe Smokers.

I would like to make a donation.

The collection of the Keramisch Museum Goedewaagen has grown considerably in recent years. This is partly due to the special tax opportunities associated with donations to a museum recognised as a charity by the tax authorities. As of June 2011, the ANBI-regulation is applicable to the museum. Further information about donations is available from the executive committee of the foundation.