From 1 May 2022, Borg Museum Verhildersum will play host to the exhibition “Juliana: A life in dolls.” As Princess and later Queen, she amassed a collection of over 600 dolls. But the collection of dolls began with Princess and later Queen Wilhelmina and her mother, Queen Emma. Queen Emma took her young daughter on a tour of all the Dutch provinces during her regency, and they received many dolls during these visits.
The dolls came in many variants, some resembling the royals, but there were also dolls representing the area from which they were gifted through their traditional clothes.
Although relatively small, the exhibition is surprisingly internationally focused. The text comes in Dutch, German and English, and the accompanying exhibition book also comes in three languages. Most of the story, however, seems to come from the audio tour, which is a shame. I’ve never been a fan of exhibitions that rely heavily on audio tours as I often find them boring and inconvenient. In general, this isn’t an exhibition I would make a three hour trip for again, but if you happen to be in the north of the Netherlands, it’s quite special seeing the dolls, and you can also visit the small castle on the site.
More information can be found here.
Be the first to comment