Online transportation – The Netherlands assembly center is officially opened

Amersfoort – The outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshofen, inaugurated the CollectionCentrum Nederland (CC NL) in Amersfoort this morning. It did so by operating the historic De Blauwe Mortier cylindrical device, the largest object preserved in CC NL. The CollectionCentrum Nederland brings together four important national collections, those in the Dutch Open Air Museum, Paleis Het Loo Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Cultural Heritage Agency, in one of the most sustainable buildings in the Netherlands. The combination of the four groups together and the cooperation of the four partners makes CC NL unique in the world.

Ingrid van Engelshofen, Outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science: The Dutch Collection Center is a special site where four national collections are brought together. I foresee that heritage management can be taken to a higher level by bringing together groups. CC NL is modern, incredibly sustainable and futuristic. CC NL has everything needed to grow into a center of expertise in the management and preservation of museum collections. It is great to be able to realize this in the Netherlands.

Half a million pieces

About half a million items are stored in CC NL, ranging from painting, crafts and furniture to jewelry, clothing and watches. CC NL has royal thrones and treasuries from noble families, but also merry horses, historic bikes, sleighs, a steam engine weighing more than 7,000 kilograms and a barrel organ over five meters high. Royal carts are now next to farm carts.

Taco Dibbets, director of the Rijksmuseum: CCNNL, reveals intriguing links that were once hidden. Bringing the collections together physically results in a more complete picture of art and history in the Netherlands, both chronologically and socially. CC NL should become a catalyst for loan and research traffic. I warmly invite museum curators, scholars, and other students to come and seek loans or conduct research.

Unique facilities

The collaboration between the four institutions goes far beyond just sharing the building. The groups are amalgamated, there is a common operational management and the employees of the four institutions together form one team. Working together, it is possible that CC NL will offer facilities unique to the Netherlands that benefit the entire cultural sector. For example, for the first time in the Netherlands, there are special quarantine rooms where museum pieces can be cleaned of harmful insects and fungi by freezing cold or extracting oxygen. In addition, CC NL has a photo studio and an X-ray room. There are also large restoration studios that other cultural institutions can use as well.

Wim Hoeben, Site Manager CC NL: “A good example is the restoration of the 350-year-old painting ‘View of Amersfoort’ by Matthias Wiethos. This remarkable work, two and a half meters by four metres, is being restored on behalf of the Amersfoort Museum Flieheit in CC NL” .

reachable

CC NL is built in the Vathorst district of Amersfoort, along the A28 motorway. This location was chosen in part because of its central location and ease of access. This is important because CC NL wants to stimulate the movement of loans. Moreover, it is within walking distance of Amersfoort Vathorst station, which means that people can also get there by public transport without any problems.