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Museums in Delft

The country with the most museums per square kilometre in the world
1,167Museums
12Provinces
483Accept Museumcard
Showing 9 museumsClear filters
Museum Paul Tétar van ElvenPhoto: M.Minderhoud, CC BY-SA 3.0

Museum Paul Tétar van Elven

Historic artist's house preserving nineteenth-century interiors and collections.

Tue–Sun
✓ Museumcard
tetar.nl
Museum Prinsenhof DelftPhoto: Steven Lek, Public domain

Museum Prinsenhof Delft

Museum telling the story of William of Orange, Delft and the Dutch Revolt.

Tue–Sun
✓ Museumcard
museumprinsenhofdelft.nl

Gereedschap Museum Mensert

Specialist museum of historic tools and craftsmanship.

Limited openingmensert.nl

Medisch Farmaceutisch Museum De Griffioen

Museum exploring the history of medicine and pharmacy.

Limited openingmuseumdegriffioen.nl
Museum Lambert van MeertenPhoto: Steven Lek, Public domain

Museum Lambert van Meerten

Historic collection of Delftware, furniture and decorative arts.

Limited openinglambertvanmeerten.nl
Royal Delft MuseumPhoto: Donald Trung Quoc Don (Chữ Hán: 徵國單) - Wikimedia Commons - ©, CC BY-SA 4.0

Royal Delft Museum

Museum and factory explaining the history of Delft Blue pottery.

Dailyroyaldelft.com
Science Centre DelftPhoto: Michiel1972, CC BY-SA 3.0

Science Centre Delft

Interactive museum showcasing research and innovation from TU Delft.

Tue–Sunsciencecentre.tudelft.nl
Tabakshistorisch MuseumPhoto: Moedagalega, CC BY-SA 4.0

Tabakshistorisch Museum

Museum in Delft picturing the Delft tobacco industry since the seventeenth century.

Limited openingwww.tabaksmuseum.nl
Vermeer Centrum DelftPhoto: Ralf Roletschek (talk) - Fahrradtechnik auf fahrradmonteur.d, GFDL 1.2

Vermeer Centrum Delft

Museum introducing the life, work and techniques of Johannes Vermeer.

Dailyvermeercentrumdelft.nl

Delft has nine museums, and no original Vermeers.

The painter lived and worked here his whole life and left barely thirty-five paintings in total, none of them in the city. What Delft has instead is the place itself, largely unchanged, and a study centre that reconstructs his studio and technique so you understand what you are looking at when you finally see the paintings in The Hague or Amsterdam.

The other Delft is the pottery, and Royal Delft is the last of the seventeenth-century workshops still operating. Two of the nine accept the Museumcard. Two open every day.

The main collections

  • Museum Prinsenhof Delft. A former convent, later William of Orange’s residence, and the room where he was assassinated in 1584. The bullet holes are still in the wall.
  • Royal Delft Museum. The last original Delftware factory, with painters working in front of you.
  • Vermeer Centrum Delft. His life, technique and city, with full-size reproductions of the complete works.
  • Museum Paul Tetar van Elven. A nineteenth-century artist’s house kept as he arranged it.

The smaller ones

  • Science Centre Delft. The technical university’s public face, and good with children.
  • Museum Lambert van Meerten. A collector’s house, strong on tiles.
  • Tabakshistorisch Museum, Gereedschap Museum Mensert and Medisch Farmaceutisch Museum De Griffioen. Specialist collections, mostly limited hours.

Before you go

Delft is fifteen minutes from The Hague and Rotterdam by train, which makes it an easy half day rather than a trip of its own. The Prinsenhof and Royal Delft together fill a comfortable morning.

Visiting with a private guide

We arrange private guided visits at many of the museums on this page, with tickets and timed entry handled for you and the route built around opening days rather than around a fixed itinerary.

Plan your tour, or see all our private tours.

Common questions

How many museums are there in Delft?
Nine. Two of them accept the Museumcard.
Are there Vermeer paintings in Delft?
No. None of his roughly thirty-five surviving paintings are in the city where he lived and worked. The Vermeer Centrum shows full-size reproductions of all of them and explains his technique; the originals nearest to Delft are in the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Where was William of Orange assassinated?
In the Prinsenhof in Delft, in 1584. The bullet holes are still visible in the stairwell wall and the building is now the city museum.
Is Royal Delft worth visiting?
It is the last of the original seventeenth-century Delftware workshops still in operation, and the hand-painting is done in front of visitors rather than behind glass.

This page is part of our complete guide to museums in the Netherlands, covering all 1,167 of them.