Museum Kapel van Verbeelding

About the museum

The museum lies behind an unassuming facade on the Jodenstraat in the middle of Maastricht's old town. Between 1840 and 1850, the Catholic priest Monsignor Rutten lived at No. 22; he campaigned for better living conditions for the workers in the city's earthenware and glass industries. Behind his residence he had a school and a chapel built for poor children. The St. Vincent's Chapel, designed around 1850 by the German architect Carl Weber, is considered one of the earliest neo-Gothic buildings in the Netherlands and one of the few surviving chapels of its kind in the country.

The museum was founded by the graphic artist and visual artist René Glaser (born 1949). The house and chapel were restored and converted into a museum between 2000 and 2002 to plans by Jo Janssen Architecten. This explains the former names Drukkunstmuseum and Museum De Historische Drukkerij: on the ground floor stands a print shop as it was around 1900, still used as the artist's studio. With presses and tools, linocuts, etchings, lithographs and monotypes are made here; the museum also shows how relief, intaglio and planographic printing differ.

The centrepiece is the "Kamer van de Gedachten" on the upper floor of the chapel, a total work of art about the phenomenon of inspiration, which Glaser says he has researched for more than fifty years and describes as "thought mechanics". A numbered tour leads through seven rooms, past a timeline of his life's work, the vaulted cellar with films, and the staircase with works from several decades. In the courtyard, Roman finds recall that the Roman road Via Belgica once ran here; also on view is a late medieval depiction from 1540 of the story of Tobias and the kid.

Highlights

• "Kamer van de Gedachten" – René Glaser's total work of art on inspiration and thought mechanics
• Historic print shop from around 1900 with presses for relief, intaglio and planographic printing
• Neo-Gothic St. Vincent's Chapel from around 1850
• Roman finds and well in the courtyard on the Via Belgica
• Late medieval depiction from 1540: Tobias and the kid

Permanent exhibition

• Kamer van de Gedachten – A tour through seven rooms from the historic print shop to the great total work of art on the origin of inspiration; plus information on the chapel and the Roman traces of the site.

Operated by

Stichting Drukkerij Museum

Admission & discounts

The museum does not provide information on the Museumkaart.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

• Café

In the central Room 2 you can take a break and have a coffee.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent

Rooms in the museum can be hired; enquiries by telephone or email.

Plan your visit