Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics and Fries Museum form an organisation of two independent and modern museums where quality and public are priority. The organisation of the two museums consists of 58 employees with a combined size of 45 FTE spread over five departments (Collections, Public & Programme, Facilities, Finance & Control and Human Resources). They work together with 160 volunteers and staff hired externally. The organisation is flexible and future-oriented, and both museums have developed into modern and professional museums.
The museum's social significance
Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics is the national museum about ceramics from East and West. With its world-famous collection, it is located in the city palace of Maria Louise of Hesse-Kassel, matriarch of our royal family, and is also the birthplace of the graphic artist M.C. Escher. Ceramics is the gateway to other worlds. More than any other medium, ceramics belong to all times and to everyone. Man-made, used and cherished, useful and seductive. Ceramics is a mirror of the culture and time from which it originates. The Princessehof, with world-renowned collections from the Eurasian continent, is therefore pre-eminently an inclusive museum connecting cultural worlds. We are a borderless museum, with interculturality as a central theme, including abrasive aspects such as appropriation and the collection's colonial cultural biography. When creating exhibitions, we collaborate with different nations. In the coming years, we will also explicitly make that connection with the cultural communities in the Netherlands from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, whose heritage we are privileged to manage. With the various manifestations of ceramics, from large-scale free artistic work to practical but often exceptionally designed series products, we are a place of inspiration. In a region with a strong but mostly small-scale manufacturing economy, we nurture the appreciation of craft. To this end, in cooperation with the European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC), we present recent artistic developments and collaborate with applied studies, also to encourage research into a more sustainable production process. With this social significance, Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, the only BIS museum of the Northern Netherlands, contributes to a number of sustainable development goals for the broad prosperity of the North.
Mission
Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics connects the worlds of East and West, past and present through ceramics. It brings culture lovers and cultural communities into contact with its world-famous collection and offers depth through leading contextualisation. The museum actively develops this collection, also as a sustainable source of inspiration for new generations of makers. From the Princessehof, simultaneously city palace and birthplace of M.C. Escher, the museum strengthens the appeal of the northern Netherlands.
Strategic objectives 2021-2024
- meeting the world (international focus, inclusive)
- distinctive positioning (reinforcement of contemporary ceramics)
- strengthening innovative power (laboratory, showcase, talent development)
- improving financial exploitation (focus on shop, catering, business rental and permanent attraction value Nassau and M.C. Escher)
- a safe oasis during (the recovery of) corona
Annual reports and policy documents
The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics publishes an annual report. Please click on a year below to download the relevant report (in Dutch):
Annual report 2010 | 2011 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023
Collection Strategy 2017–2024
View the full plan in PDF (in Dutch)