Museums in Schiedam

Schiedam has eight museums, and between them they tell one story.

How a small town on the Nieuwe Maas became the jenever capital of the world, and what it had to build to keep the industry running. The town’s malt mills are among the tallest traditional windmills anywhere, built that high because they had to catch wind over the warehouses crowded beneath them. Two of them are museums you can climb.

Four of the eight accept the Museumcard. None open seven days a week and several of the smaller ones keep limited hours, so this is a town to check before you travel rather than after you arrive.

The two most visitors come for

• Nationaal Jenevermuseum. The history, production and culture of Dutch jenever, in a working distillery. Open Tuesday to Sunday, on the Museumcard.
• Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. Modern and contemporary Dutch art with an outstanding CoBrA collection, and a serious museum by any standard.

The windmill museums

Both are working mills, both are on the Museumcard, and both are open Tuesday to Sunday.

• Museummolen De Walvisch. Explains milling and its link to the distilling trade that made the town.
• Museummolen De Nieuwe Palmboom. Overlooks the centre, and the climb is the point.

The smaller collections

• Borrelmuseum. Dutch drinking culture and jenever history, told with some humour. Limited opening.
• Nationaal Coöperatie Museum. The Dutch co-operative movement, and more interesting than it sounds.
• Museum Oud Kethel. Local history of the former village of Kethel, now part of the town.
• Art Gallery ‘t Walvisch. Local artists and heritage exhibitions, hours vary.

Before you go

Schiedam sits fifteen minutes from Rotterdam by metro, which makes it an easy half day rather than a trip of its own. None of the eight open every day.

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.

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