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In 1920, the last German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) and his wife took up residence in exile with their personnel and household effects in Doorn House. Each of the castle’s previous residents had renovated it to suit their wishes, and the ex-Kaiser followed suit. The house museum has been open to the public since 1942. From basement to attic, every room is furnished in the Kaiser’s authentic style, thus giving a pocket-sized impression of the culture of the nineteenth-century German court. An annex on the estate tells the story of the First World War in the Netherlands.

The Doorn House museum contains the largest collection of German art and applied arts outside Germany, including furniture and utensils, silver, ceramics, glassware, paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, textiles, clothing, and books, largely from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. This highly diverse collection is of a superb, princely quality. Two earthenware plaques by the tile painter Frederick van Frijtom (ca. 1632–1702) provide fine examples of the Dutch and Flemish art from around 1350 to 1750 that comprises much of the museum’s collection.

Debbie Splinter, Project Assistant, Collection Management (October 2023)