Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, South Holland Province, The Netherlands

5elwiruniaxd 5:00 PM Feb 13, 2020

Amazing experience
Great little museum, absolute gem for people interested in history. The lady who gave us the tour knew everything! Whatever question I asked she knew the answer and could tell a wonderful story about each item. Highly recommended!

5John G 5:00 PM Jul 31, 2015

Superb! Don't miss it.
As others have said, this offers a much broader experience about Dutch history and not only about the Pilgrims. Dr. Bangs is a fount of knowledge and stories about Dutch medieval and Reformation era history, as well as the author of tremendously important scholarship on the Pilgrims themselves. The museum is indeed small, but not only is the house the oldest in all of Leiden (1300s), but every object in it is a history lesson in itself. I learned that if you don’t know what question to ask, just point at an object and say, “Tell me about that” and Dr. Bangs will recount a fascinating bit of history. So whatever your area(s) of interest (the Pilgrims, Dutch history, architecture, the Church, social history or even furniture), you’ll find this to be a rewarding and highly personal experience. I don’t know any other museum where the Curator will give you a personal tour and tell you all about any item in the museum that interests you for as long as you wish. All for 5 Euros. You can’t beat it. I enjoyed reading this University of Chicago Magazine article on Dr. Bangs and the museum before our visit: http://mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-society/going-dutch It prompted me to ask a number of follow-up questions that I wouldn’t otherwise have known to ask about, and that led to some very interesting explanations by Dr. Bangs.