Teylers Museum: from the Oval Room to the question of what we know
The Haarlem museum links its eighteenth-century origins with art, instruments and fossils. The exhibition Zeker weten? makes research its subject.
Teylers Museum in Haarlem opened in 1784 with the Oval Room. The institution arose from the bequest of Pieter Teyler. His former home is now also part of the museum visit.
Pieter Teylers Huis was the home of the founder, who lived from 1702 to 1778. According to the museum, some rooms are among the best-preserved Dutch interiors of the eighteenth century. The ground floor and first floor are included in the regular museum ticket.
The highlights page mentions a figure study by Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel, the Haarlem fossil Ostromia, early electric light bulbs and a collection of crystal models. The fossil was previously known as Archaeopteryx.
According to the museum profile on Museum.nl, the collection also includes machines that generate electricity, Dutch masters, books and coins. It mentions the Great Electrostatic Generator in Lorentz's old laboratory and a historic library from 1826 with 25,000 books and 100,000 journals.
The temporary exhibition Zeker weten? Runs from 2 October 2026 to 29 August 2027. With historical and current examples, according to the museum, it explores five principles of science: proving, repeating, adjusting, testing and building on.
The permanent collection thus unites art, natural history and technology. The museum began in the Oval Room; Pieter Teylers Huis adds the founder's home. The exhibition Zeker weten? Draws attention to the scientific method.
Teylers Museum is at Spaarne 16, 2011 CH Haarlem. According to its own site, it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00. Adults pay €18.50, children aged six to seventeen pay €2.50 and young people aged eighteen to twenty-four pay €9.25.