Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar

Information

The Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, which opened in 1875, is one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands. In 2000, it moved into modern premises in the historic city center. The museum manages and displays a varied collection (about 22,000 objects) of international importance, which is closely linked to the Alkmaar region. The city collection includes a huge range of objects (paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, silver, glass, ceramics, weapons, furniture, and pennants) from the period 1500 to the present day.

The nucleus of the city collection includes Alkmaar’s militia paintings (sixteen in total, from the period 1593–1657) and three paintings of the siege of Alkmaar in 1573 (made in 1580 and 1601). There is also a small but superior collection of arts and crafts from seventeenth-century Alkmaar, including eight tazzas (footed drinking bowls), and militia provost staffs – made of ebony, silver, and mother-of-pearl. Other Old Master highlights include two portraits by Maarten van Heemskerck (ca. 1540), Salomon van Ruysdael’s View of the Great or St. Lawrence’s Church, Alkmaar (1644), Pieter Saenredam’s impressive interior of that church (ca. 1660–1665) and Emanuel de Witte’s monumental Interior of an Imaginary Catholic Church (ca. 1670). The pride and joy of Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar is a group of paintings by the classicist Caesar van Everdingen, including portraits of prominent Alkmaar citizens, history paintings, and three militia pieces. These are exhibited permanently in a special display.

Dr. Christi M. Klinkert, Curator of Old Masters (January 2023)