Information
Zeeland’s Maritime Museum (muZEEum) administers one of the largest museum collections in the Dutch province of Zeeland, numbering almost 20,000 objects with historical and maritime relevance. The maritime archeological collection is one of the most important in the Netherlands, in terms of both size and range. Thousands of objects in muZEEum come from two shipwrecked vessels of the Dutch East India Company (VOC): “’t Vliegend Hert” and “De Rooswijk.” Also displayed are an important collection of items relating to Michiel de Ruyter and diverse company and art collections.
The main masterpieces are Ferdinand Bol’s portraits (in their decorative frames) of Michiel de Ruyter and his wife Anna van Gelder, the spectacles salvaged from “De Rooswijk,” and the model of the slave ship “D’Elisabet Galy.”
One of the two permanent exhibitions is Come with us to the sea (“Ga mee naar zee”), in which male and female sailors and sailors’ wives – including some well-known navigators – discuss the impressive maritime history of Zeeland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The setting – the monumental city palace of the wealthy merchant shipowner Lampsins – makes an interesting counterpart to the building’s updated interior design. Each room has its own theme illuminating a key phase or facet of the shipping trade and maritime society.
The second permanent exhibition, The North Sea Port experience, is displayed in the muZEEum warehouses. Here, visitors immerse themselves in the multifarious port of Vlissingen, Terneuzen, and Ghent. They can marvel at splendid model ships and explore the innovative technologies and approaches that enable this port to flourish while striving to achieve a sustainable balance.
Pol Verbeeck, Head of Collections and Digitization (December 2023)