2nd February 2023: Mauritshuis and Binnenhof in The Hague, Netherlands

The Mauritshuis (on the left) is an art museum in The Hague. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The most famous artwork in the museum is Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Originally, the 17th-century building was the residence of Count John Maurice of Nassau. The Binnenhof (on the right) was originally built in the 13th century as residence of the counts of Holland and became the political centre of the Dutch Republic in 1584. Nowadays it houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. It is among the oldest Parliament buildings in the World still in use.

Thank You very much Marcel!

Dutch Sheep, Netherlands

Thank You very much Peter!

Netherlands: Museum Noordwijk

On 4th May I got two postcards: one from the Netherlands and one from Japan.

The card from the Netherlands shows Charlotte van Pallandt's statue De Redder from the collection of the Museum Noordwijk. The Museum Noordwijk is a small museum about the city's history.

A definitive stamp was used here.

Thank You very much Marcel!

Netherlands: Windmill

On 14th October I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It is an official card and shows a windmill.

Two older stamps were used on this card. Looking at the postmark it seems like a third stamp got lost.

Thank You very much Fanny!

Netherlands: Windmill

On 23rd July I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It is an official card and shows a windmill.

The sender used a personalised stamp with a black and white photo of her. For privacy reason I however covered the image.

Thank You very much Christha!

Netherlands: Amsterdam

On 9th June I got two postcards: one from the Netherlands and one from the USA.

The card from the Netherlands shows an old view of Amsterdam. 

One stamp from a set of six about First Atlases was used on the card. I bought the complete sheet last year and you can see it HERE.

Thank You very much Lisa!

Netherlands: Friesland

On 27th January I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It comes from Friesland, one of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. Friesland is located in the northern part of the country. Leeuwarden is its largest city and beside Dutch also Frisian is spoken there.

The card is an official one and a definitive stamp was used.

 Thank You very much Esmeralda!

Netherlands: Keep Calm

On 11th December I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It is a Keep Calm card and was sent through official Postcrossing.

Five not so common stamps were used on the card, of which most were issued early in this millennium. The two stamps on the right for example commemorate the Tricentenary of printer Joh. Enschedé (issued 04-03-2004) and Endangered Animals (from a set of twelve) (issued 04-10-2006).

 Thank You very much Martha!

Netherlands: Dutch Icons

Last Friday I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It shows many of the things the Netherlands are famous for: cows, a windmill, Delftware with houses along the Canals of Amsterdam, klompen, stroopwafels and Gouda cheese. Most striking omissions for sure are bikes and tulips.

A matching stamp with Amsterdam houses was used. It is from a set of five international value stamps about Dutch Icons and was issued on 3rd January 2014. One day earlier already a set of ten national value stamps on the same theme were issued, which used the same designs but with different colours.

Thank You very much Marcel!

Netherlands: Keep Calm

On Wednesday I got four postcards: one from the Netherlands, one from Thailand, one from Canada and one from Italy.

The card from the Netherlands encourages you to keep calm and keep Postcrossing.

It is an official card: NL-4550855.

With nice stamps:
Experience Nature - Mammals (from set of ten) (issued 02-01-2019)

Thank You very much Jelia!

Netherlands: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

On 13th September I got four postcards: one from the Netherlands, one from Spain, one from Canada and one from Germany.

The card from the Netherlands shows the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a municipal museum about modern art, contemporary art and design. It was established in 1874.

Stamp:
Year of the Dog (issued ?)

Thank You very much Mike!

Germany - United Kingdom - Japan - Netherlands: Children's Books Chaincard

This is the 3000th post on my blog! Thank You all of you for sending me all this nice postcards and covers with so many nice stamps!

On Friday another Chaincard returned. The theme of this card was children's books and it travelled to the United Kingdom, Japan and the Netherlands.

Stamps:

Germany - The Brave Little Tailor (from set of three) (issued 07-02-2019)

Germany - Gruffalo (issued 01-03-2019)

United Kingdom - Animals in Children's Books (two from set of eight) (issued 10-01-2006)

Japan - Lisa and Gaspard (from set of twenty) (issued 16-01-2019)

Japan - The Very Hungry Caterpillar (from set of ten) (issued 30-11-2018)

Netherlands - Little Golden Books (two from set of six) (issued 02-11-2015)

The card I chose for this chaincard shows the Eulenspiegel Fountain in my hometown.

Thank You very much Amy, Wakana and Heleen for your stamps!

Netherlands: Windmills of Kinderdijk-Elshout

On Friday I got three postcards: one from the Netherlands, one from Indonesia and my first card from Mongolia.

The card from the Netherlands shows the windmills of Kinderdijk-Elshout. The 19 windmills of Kinderdijk-Elshout are one of the most famous sights in the Netherlands. The construction of windmills began in the Middle Ages and they are still used for the drainage of land for agriculture and settlement. The Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is since 1997 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The card was sent from Germany with a Dutch and a German stamp.

Thank You very much Marcel!

Netherlands: Keukenhof

Last Saturday I got three postcards: one from the Netherlands, one from Belgium and one from Indonesia.

The card from the Netherlands shows the Keukenhof in Lisse. The Keukenhof was established in 1949. It is one of the World's largest flower gardens and a popular tourist destination.

Stamp:
25 years Treaty of Maastricht (issued 10-02-2017)

Thank You very much William!

Germany - Netherlands - Belgium - United Kingdom - USA: Feminism Chaincard

Recently I took again part in a chaincard project organised on Instagram. This time the theme was Feminism and the card travelled from Germany to the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the USA and back to Germany. 

Stamps:

Germany - 50 years Women's Suffrage in Germany (from set of three) (issued 11-08-1969)

Germany - Centenary of the Women's Suffrage in Germany (issued 02-01-2019)

Netherlands - Voting Rights for Women (issued 28-08-1979)

Netherlands - 1001 Women (from set of ten) (issued 25-03-2013)

Belgium - Women in Action (whole set) (issued 07-03-2009)

United Kingdom - Centenary of the Women's Suffrage in the United Kingdom (two from set of eight) (issued 15-02-2018)

USA - Anne Julia Cooper (issued 11-06-2009)

USA - Ayn Rand (issued 22-04-1999)

The card I chose for this chaincard shows the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus in Berlin. The Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus is located in the government district and was built between 1998 and 2003. It is named after Marie-Elisabeth Lüders, one of the most important figures in the German women's rights movement.

Thank You very much Heleen, Eliza, Doyel and Hannah for your stamps!

Netherlands: Limburgs Museum

On 30th August I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It shows the Limburgs Museum in Venlo. The Limburgs Museum is a cultural history museum and one of the three provincial museums of Limburg. It was founded in 1993 when two older museums were merged. Since 2000 it is housed in a new building.

Stamps:
???

Thank You very much Marcel!

Netherlands: Rotterdam

On Friday I got a postcard from the Netherlands.

It shows the Cube-houses in Rotterdam. Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands and Europe's largest port. After its destruction in World War II the city got a varied architectural landscape. It is one of the cultural centres of the Netherlands and in 2001 it was the European Capital of Culture.

Stamp:
Personalised stamp

Thank You very much Marcel!

My Trip to Amsterdam

Two weeks ago I was in Amsterdam and there I got many cards for my collection. I also sent two cards to myself, which arrived last week.

Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands. It is also said to be a World City and a mayor financial centre. 

The Grachtengordel was dug in the Dutch Golden Age as city expansion of Amsterdam. Along the canals are many gabled houses and numerous monuments. The Grachtengordel is since 2010 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Stamps:
50th birthday of King Willem-Alexander (two from set of six) (issued 24-04-2017)

The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum about arts and history. It was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808. Since 1885 it is housed in a building designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers. Its collection of 1million objects, of which 8000 are on display, includes masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer. Today it is the largest art museum and one of the most visited museums in the Netherlands.

Stamps:
Centenary of De Stijl (two from set of ten) (issued 27-03-2017)

The Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum is a maritime museum, that was founded in 1916. The museum is housed in a former naval storehouse since 1973. Outside the museum is a replica of the Amsterdam, an 18th-century ship which sailed between the Netherlands and the East Indies.

Micropia was opened in 2014 and is thus the World's first museum about microbes and other microbiological lifeforms. Its aim is to distribute information about microbes, which are often associated with illness and disease despite their essential function in the daily functioning of human life.

The Tropenmuseum is one of the largest museums in Amsterdam. It was founded in 1864 to show Dutch overseas possessions. Since the 1970s it started to expand its scope to focus more on social issues.

The Van Gogh Museum houses the largest collection of paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh. It was founded in 1973. In 2017 it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands and among the 25 most visited art museums in the World.