Welcome to the Volendam Museum

The easily accessible Volendam Museum with adjoining cigar bands-house and picture theatre is located in the village-centre near the old quarter and the Volendam dyke with adequate parking facilities in the neighbourhood.

Exhibition of i.a. Volendam (and national) dress and ornaments, various works of art i.a. of the international artists’ colony, old interiors, fishery and related industry, home crafts along with a yearly varying thematic exposition and inclusive of a visit to the walk-in picture-theatre and cigar bands-house with mosaics and decorations of 11 million cigar-bands.

Address:
Volendam Museum
Zeestraat 41
1131 ZD Volendam (The Netherlands)
Tel.: +31 (0)299 369258 or (0) 299 365186
Fax: +31 (0)84 836 0 635
E-mail: info@volendamsmuseum.nl

Admission prices:
Adult:    € 3,00
Senior: € 2,50
Child:   € 1,75

Opening hours: March 18th till November 3th

daily 10:00 – 16:30 hrs.

Collections

From the year 1462 on the small rural borough of farmers and fishermen by the name of Volendam gradually developed into a prosperous fishing-village. During the expansive 19th century the largely catholic Volendam built its own parish-church (1860) while the fleet of 258 fishing-boats had become the largest along the old Zuyderzee by 1892. The big Closing dyke of 1932 changed the Zuyderzee into the partly reclaimed fresh-water lake of IJsselmeer. Since 1870 the authentic and lively fishing community with its age-old tradition of folk-dance and song , picturesque wooden houses and colourful (also national) dress had grown into a haunt of artists and tourists alike. In 1884 steamboat companies opened a regular service from Amsterdam and the combined roundtrip known as the Marken-Express has been an international success since 1906. Although most of the undertaking inhabitants switched to jobs in the fish trade and construction work and changed into civil clothes Volendam (along with the former island of Marken) is still frequented by millions of visitors from all over the world. The Volendam Museum holds many memories of the rich history, culture and folklore of this international meeting-place and typical Dutch holiday-resort of Volendam, the living symbol of Holland.
Main room
Thematic exhibition of the large Volendam (and national) costume showcase, ornaments, paintings, drawings, sculptures, earthenware, literature, musical expressions and other works of art and video presentation ‘History of Volendam’ and expositions like ‘Volendam in words and pictures’, ‘Singing and dancing tradition’etc. (in production)

Botter room
Alley with two authentic wood-grained interiors (on the right) and two apple-blossom interiors (on the left) with the original furniture and wood lining dating from the period 1815 to 1920.

Fishery room
Main exhibit is a true copy of the forecastle of the Volendam fishing ‘quack’ VD 222. Furthermore there are paintings, scale models of Volendam fishing boats, a detailed miniature of the Volendam shipyard from the period 1895 to 1953 and visualizations of various fishing techniques (in production).

Picture-theatre
Nostalgic art deco picture-theatre with a varying selection or compilation of documentary films by Dutch directors, news reels from various countries, video recordings and private films.

Maze room
With impressions of fishery related business such as a sail-loft, poultry farming, fish processing and fish-trade as well as illustrations and scenes from daily life in the labyrinth-like old village-quarter like household-work, school, corporate and church life, folklore, children’s games, festivities, kermis, sport life etc.

Cigar bands room
From the start in 1947 in a local artist’s house some 11 million cigar-bands have been used to compose a unique collection of mosaics. Since 1995 the colourful decorations of world famous buildings, works of art, province-arms, windmills and other typical Dutch symbols have been a major indoor attraction of the Volendam Museum.