located in the very centre of the historic city of Haarlem we find the Teylers Museum; the oldest surviving museum of the netherlands.
it all started in 1775 as the collection of Mister Pieter Teyler van der Hulst who opened it up to be used in research and education by the Teylers Institute, which he had started. soon the collection grew even more and the building was expanded. with Pieter passing away and the upcoming period of enlightment the collection was opened up for the general public. General meaning upper class public whith sufficent knowledge to understand what they were looking at.
but in the 19th century the Teylers institute found itself unable to maintain the museum. they sold some pieces but a large part of the collection remained inside the building, which was closed. time froze upon the 19th century museum as it remained unchanged untill it's reopening in the 1930's.
it's a really intersting place that is still almost exactly like a 19th century museum, absolutely worth a stop if you ever visit the netherlands.
http://www.teylersmuseum.nl/(should this be in historical or geographical?)
