Hendrick Hamel Museum

About the museum

Hendrick Hamel was born in Gorinchem in 1630 and as a young man sailed to Asia with the VOC in 1650. In 1653 the ship De Sperwer was wrecked off the Korean island of Jeju; Hamel had to remain in Korea with other survivors for thirteen years until he managed to escape to Japan in 1666. His Journael, written there, was for a long time the only Western source on the country, which is why he is still regarded as a national hero in South Korea today.

In Gorinchem Hamel was long hardly known. Only in the 1990s did he come back into focus, through a request from a Korean professor who wanted to do research in the city archive. In 1998 Gorinchem and the South Korean city of Gangjin entered into a town twinning, and in 2005 the Hendrick Hamel Foundation was founded, which wanted to build a Hamelhuis at his original birthplace on the Kortendijk. The museum in the replica of his birth house opened on 11 June 2015, in the presence of Korean delegations.

The house has three floors with a shop and coffee bar, a room for changing exhibitions and a Korean garden, designed by a horticultural company in 2009. The permanent exhibition leads through three rooms: in the Gorcumer Stilkamer you can see how a 17th-century house was furnished, the VOC room explains the voyage to the Dutch East Indies with navigation instruments, ship models and old sea charts, and in the Korea room four dioramas made in Korea tell of shipwreck, captivity and escape, complemented by a replica of the Journael and Korean everyday tools and ceramics. The collection is small and is regularly refreshed with loans.

Highlights

• Replica of Hendrick Hamel's birth house on the Kortendijk
• Korea room with four dioramas on shipwreck, captivity and escape
• VOC room with navigation instruments, ship models and old sea charts
• Replica of Hamel's Journael
• Korean garden behind the house

Permanent exhibition

• Vaste collectie: Stijlkamer, VOC-zaal und Koreazaal – The permanent exhibition tells, in three rooms, of Hamel's home in Gorinchem, the voyage with the VOC and his time in Korea.

Founded

2015

Operated by

Hendrick Hamel Foundation

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Every second Sunday of the month (Culturele Zondag Gorinchem) and on Open Monumentendag

Free with the Museumkaart, for members of the friends' association and for bearers of the family name Hamel (with proof). Members of "Arierang" receive a discount for themselves and five companions on presentation of their membership card.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

All passages are designed for wheelchair use; a spacious lift leads to the first floor with the Korea room, and an accessible toilet is on the ground floor.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

On request there are tours that tell Hamel's adventures in a child-friendly way; for schools there are programmes on Hamel's voyage, the VOC and Korean culture.

Getting there & parking

According to the museum, the Gorcums Museum is about a four-minute walk away.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop
• Coat check

Museum shop with coffee bar; cloakroom for umbrellas, bags and backpacks (not allowed in the museum).

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit