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Museums in Leeuwarden

The country with the most museums per square kilometre in the world
1,167Museums
12Provinces
483Accept Museumcard
Showing 8 museumsClear filters
Fries LandbouwmuseumPhoto: Condor3d, CC BY 4.0

Fries Landbouwmuseum

Museum dedicated to the history of farming in Friesland.

Tue–Sat 10:00–17:00
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frieslandbouwmuseum.nl
Fries MuseumPhoto: Wutsje / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0

Fries Museum

The provincial museum of Friesland, covering art, history and Frisian culture.

Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00
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friesmuseum.nl
Fries VerzetsmuseumPhoto: Wutsje / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0

Fries Verzetsmuseum

Museum telling the story of resistance and occupation in Friesland during the Second World War.

Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00
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friesmuseum.nl/verzetsmuseum
Natuurmuseum FryslânPhoto: Natuurmuseum Fryslân, CC BY-SA 4.0

Natuurmuseum Fryslân

Natural history museum with interactive exhibits for all ages.

Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00
✓ Museumcard
natuurmuseumfryslan.nl
Pier Pander MuseumPhoto: Vidi Condor, CC BY 4.0

Pier Pander Museum

Museum displaying the works of Frisian sculptor Pier Pander.

Tue–Sun (seasonal)
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pierpander.nl

Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics

National museum dedicated to ceramics from around the world.

Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00
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princessehof.nl
Museum De GrutterswinkelPhoto: Otter, CC BY-SA 4.0

Museum De Grutterswinkel

Traditional grocery shop preserved as a museum.

Limited openingdegrutterswinkel.nl
Museumhaven LeeuwardenPhoto: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0

Museumhaven Leeuwarden

Historic harbour featuring traditional vessels.

Open daily (ships vary)museumhavenleeuwarden.nl

Leeuwarden has eight museums, and six of them take the Museumcard, the highest proportion of any Dutch city.

This is the capital of Friesland, a province with its own language, and the museums are built around that rather than around the Netherlands generally. The Fries Museum tells the province’s story on its own terms, and the Princessehof, in the house where Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel lived, holds the national ceramics collection.

None of the eight open every day.

The main collections

  • Fries Museum. Friesland’s art, history and culture, including Mata Hari, who was born in the city.
  • Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics. The national ceramics collection, strong on Asian export porcelain, in an eighteenth-century palace.
  • Natuurmuseum Fryslân. Frisian nature and landscape, and unusually good with children.
  • Fries Verzetsmuseum. Resistance and occupation in Friesland.
  • Fries Landbouwmuseum. Farming, which in Friesland is not a niche subject.

The smaller ones

  • Pier Pander Museum. A Frisian sculptor, in a purpose-built temple in the Prinsentuin.
  • Museum De Grutterswinkel. A preserved grocer’s shop.
  • Museumhaven Leeuwarden. Historic Frisian vessels in the city’s water.

Before you go

Six of the eight take the Museumcard, so if you are carrying one, Leeuwarden is among the best value days in the country. None open on all seven days, and the smaller museums keep short hours.

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 Leeuwarden?
Eight. Six of them accept the Museumcard, the highest proportion of any Dutch city.
Who was Mata Hari?
A dancer and courtesan executed for espionage in 1917, born in Leeuwarden in 1876. The Fries Museum holds material relating to her life.
What is the Princessehof?
The national museum of ceramics, in the former palace of Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel, with a particularly strong collection of Asian export porcelain.
Which museums in Leeuwarden are open on Mondays?
None of the eight open every day of the week.

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