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Museums in Groningen

The country with the most museums per square kilometre in the world
1,167Museums
12Provinces
483Accept Museumcard
Showing 9 museumsClear filters
GRID Grafisch Museum GroningenPhoto: GRIDGrafischMuseumGroningen, CC BY-SA 4.0

GRID Grafisch Museum Groningen

Graphic museum about printing, bookbinding, typography and visual communication, currently closed while working towards a new museum.

Temporarily closed
✓ Museumcard
gridgroningen.nl
Groninger MuseumPhoto: Rob Koster, CC BY-SA 4.0

Groninger Museum

Major art, design and cultural history museum in Groningen.

Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon closed
✓ Museumcard
groningermuseum.nl
Museum aan de APhoto: ZanderZ, CC BY-SA 3.0

Museum aan de A

Museum about Groningen’s maritime, city and regional history.

Usually Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon closed. Temporarily closed until 2026
✓ Museumcard
museumaandea.nl

Storyworld

Museum for comics, animation and games inside Forum Groningen.

Usually daily, check Forum Groningen times
✓ Museumcard
storyworld.nl
Universiteitsmuseum GroningenPhoto: Crcd, Public domain

Universiteitsmuseum Groningen

University museum with science, medicine and academic collections.

Usually Tue–Sun afternoon hours
✓ Museumcard
rug.nl/museum

Museum Canadian Allied Forces

Small museum about Canadian forces and the liberation of Groningen.

Limited/variable openingcanadianalliedforcesmuseum.nl

Noorderlicht

Photography platform and exhibition space for documentary, artistic and socially engaged photography.

Usually Wed–Sun 12:00–17:00noorderlicht.com
Synagoge GroningenPhoto: Gouwenaar, Public domain

Synagoge Groningen

Historic synagogue with exhibitions on Jewish life in Groningen.

Variable, often limited opening dayssynagogegroningen.nl
Wall House #2Photo: Wenkbrauwalbatros, CC BY-SA 3.0

Wall House #2

Striking postmodern house managed by the Groninger Museum, with occasional exhibitions and open weekends.

Special openings / seasonalgroningermuseum.nl

Groningen has nine museums, and one of them you can see from the train before you have left the station.

The Groninger Museum sits on an island in the canal directly outside Groningen station, a stack of coloured blocks designed by Alessandro Mendini with rooms by Philippe Starck and Coop Himmelb(l)au. It was controversial when it opened in 1994 and it has aged into the thing the city is known for.

Five of the nine accept the Museumcard. None open every day. This page covers the city; the wider province has 92 museums, most of them in villages and fortified manor houses.

The main collections

  • Groninger Museum. Art, design and cultural history in a building that is itself the main exhibit.
  • Museum aan de A. The city’s maritime and regional history, in the old harbour quarter.
  • Storyworld. Comics, animation and games, and one of very few museums in Europe taking the form seriously.
  • Universiteitsmuseum Groningen. Four centuries of a university’s collecting habit.
  • GRID Grafisch Museum. Printing, typography and bookbinding, with working presses.

The smaller ones

  • Synagoge Groningen. A restored 1906 synagogue, with the city’s Jewish history.
  • Wall House #2. A John Hejduk house built after the architect’s death, and one of the odder buildings in the Netherlands.
  • Noorderlicht. Documentary photography.
  • Museum Canadian Allied Forces. The Canadian liberation of the north.

Before you go

None of the nine open seven days a week. If you are travelling to Groningen for museums specifically, the province is worth a second day: the borgen, the fortified estate houses scattered across the countryside, are the region’s real speciality and several are on the Museumcard.

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 Groningen?
Nine in the city. Five accept the Museumcard. The province as a whole has 92.
What is the Groninger Museum?
The city’s principal museum, built on an island in the canal outside the station in 1994 to designs by Alessandro Mendini, with interiors by Philippe Starck and Coop Himmelb(l)au. The building is as much the attraction as the collection.
Which museums in Groningen are open on Mondays?
None of the nine open every day of the week.
What is a borg?
A fortified manor house, the speciality of the Groningen countryside. Several, including Menkemaborg and Fraeylemaborg, are museums and appear on the province page.

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