After a festive closing afternoon and the unveiling of a special plaque honouring the site’s rich history, Beeld & Geluid in The Hague closed for good this summer. The closure marks the end of 95 years of museum history in the monumental building on the Zeestraat in The Hague.
On the very last day, numerous activities were planned for visitors who visited the museum for one last time. These included a talk show with volunteers, led by Beeld & Geluid director Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer. The talk show featured favourite objects from the depots and reminisced about the museum’s rich history.
Volunteers, together with councillor Saskia Bruines (Culture) and director Van Nispen tot Sevenaer, unveiled a special plaque. The plaque, attached to the front of the building, features a reminder of the museum history of Zeestraat 82.
“This was a memorable conclusion befitting this special place. It feels good to conclude our time here in this way, with our volunteers who have done incredible work here for decades. Beeld & Geluid will stay in The Hague, in a different way and at different locations, but we are now leaving this location well behind,” responded Beeld & Geluid director Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer.
The location has a long history, with many functions and names. Its museum history began 95 years ago, when the Postal Museum opened in 1929. In 1989, the museum was given a new interpretation and a new name: the PTT Museum, from the then PTT Post (now PostNL). This was followed by Museum for Communication (1998-2016) and COMM (2016-2019), with Sound & Vision taking over COMM in 2019.
Beeld & Geluid employees will move a total of more than 80,000 objects from The Hague to Hilversum. “You can safely call the move a monster job,” says branch director Sarah Jane Earle. “With the closure of the museum, we are also saying goodbye to some of our staff. We are working on the move with a small team and some colleagues are moving with us to Hilversum. The coming months will feel like a period with mixed feelings of saying goodbye, but at the same time of further development of our programming and education with our partners at other locations in The Hague and the surrounding area.”
About Sound & Vision/Beeld & Geluid Hilversum
Beeld & Geluid is the place where media come together; in our colourful building, online or on location. We show how you yourself use media to tell your story, but we also show the influence of media on your personal life and on society. We do this, for instance, in our interactive Media Museum, during a workshop for schoolchildren on fake news or in a study on AI applications in the media. The Dutch media heritage in our immense archive is central to this, with radio and television programmes, video (games), podcasts, music, political prints and photos. In this way, together with partners, we contribute to an open, free, inclusive and media-literate society.
Foto: Vera Weber
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