The Arsenal building in Delft The former museum building by night Stone coat of arms on the Armamentarium (Oude Delft side) The Koninklijk Nederlands Legermuseum (''Royal Dutch Army Museum'') is the former national museum of the

Dutch Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

. Until 2013, it was located in the Armamentarium in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

. In 2013 it was merged with the Militaire Luchtvaartmuseum (Military Aviation Museum), based on the former airbase at

Soesterberg Soesterberg is a town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Soest, and lies about 5 km northeast of Zeist, on the road between Amersfoort and Utrecht. It was the location of Soesterberg Air Base History The ...

, where the new merged museum (

Militaire Luchtvaart Museum The Militaire Luchtvaart Museum was located at Camp Zeist near the former Soesterberg Air Base. It was the official museum of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. In 2006 the Ministry of Defence decided to merge three military museums in the Netherl ...

) is based and where its new stores were opened on 13 May 2009 by Jeroen Sikkel, Secretary General for Defence.

History

It originated in the private collection of

Frederic Adolph Hoefer Frederic Adolph Hoefer (14 April 1850 – 7 October 1938) was a Dutch lieutenant-general, militaria collector and archivist. He trained at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie and is notable for founding the Legermuseum and restoring Doorwerth Cast ...

, who bought

Doorwerth Castle Doorwerth Castle ( nl, Kasteel Doorwerth) is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. History The original castle, probably wooden, is first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and burned to the gr ...

to display it to the public. It was opened there on 5 August 1913 as the ''Nederlandsch Artillerie Museum'' (''Dutch Artillery Museum'') by

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

. The

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

later renamed that museum the Dutch Army Museum Foundation (of which Hoefer remained chairman until his death). Shortly after the outbreak of World War II it was decided to move the museum from Doorwerth Castle to the Pesthuis in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

(the latter was then being rented by the Ministry of War from the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

), but the war delayed the restoration work and the museum only opened in its new location in 1956. In 1959 the Foundation was also given the Armamentarium in Delft, with the minister of Defence opening a display there in 1986 in the presence of

Prince Bernhard , house = Lippe , father = Prince Bernhard of Lippe , mother = Armgard von Cramm , birth_date = , birth_name = Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld , birth_place = Jena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany , death_date = ...

. The museum was given its royal prefix in 1973. The museum as a whole was opened on its new Delft premises in 1989 by

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

. Since 2014, part of the building is temporarily used by

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

References

External links

Official page
Buildings and structures in Delft Army museums in the Netherlands Museums in South Holland {{Netherlands-museum-stub