Medieval religious art
The Netherlands' most precious: manuscripts, gold, sculpture.
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Museum Catharijneconvent is the national museum of the history and art of Christianity in the Netherlands: in a preserved fifteenth-century Gothic convent with a quiet courtyard, it shows the country's most precious collection of medieval religious art — illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, church gold, and paintings by Rembrandt, Hals and Golden Age artists on religious themes. Its importance to Utrecht is special: the city was the religious centre of the whole Netherlands for centuries (seat of the Utrecht bishopric), so the museum tells how Christianity — Catholicism then the Protestant Reformation — shaped the country's identity and art. The convent building itself, with its courtyard and galleries, is part of the experience. For the enthusiast of history and religious art: a rich, quiet visit in the heart of the old town, steps from Domplein. Less family-oriented than its neighbours but historically deeper.
The Netherlands' most precious: manuscripts, gold, sculpture.
The fifteenth-century building with its courtyard, part of the experience.
How Christianity and the Reformation shaped Dutch identity.
Lange Nieuwstraat 38, 3512 Utrecht
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