Spending 1.50 euro and having a perfect time!

Last Saturday I went here:

afgelopen zaterdag was ik hier: klik op de foto!

That enormous 18th century house along the canal once belonged to banker Simon van Gijn (1836-1922), who was a collector all of his life and decided that all his collections should stay together here in his house after his death. It now is 'Museum aan huis', that means something like museum in ones' house, like shopkeepers used to have shops in their houses.

This museum has bought the house next to it too. Here is the entrance and also a tearoom and a museumshop. So the house is kept like it was. When I was touring Dordrecht to see the behangsels, we went here too and I happened to see this showcase in the entrance:



To announce this exhibition:
Om deze tentoonstelling te zien:


Vergeet me niet = Forget me not= Don't forget me
an exhibition about mourning and remembrance.
So last weekend was the last chance to visit this exhibition. I went there, this happened to be museum weekend when you don't have to pay to get in. :-)
I love these kind of surprises.

The rooms in the house are still decorated the same way as Simon van Gijn has decorated them, but now there were additional items. A lot of rooms were filled with all kind of objects that were related to death, to mourning and to remembrance. Like mourning costumes, mourning letters and so on.
Of course it was not allowed to take photos in the museum.

But your reporter is a clever girl (a little more modesty would suit me fine...):
I cut out some images of the brochure and of the poster, kindly given to me by two doorkeepers and they gave me permission to take a photo of the showcase as well, as it's not in the museum but in the entrance, so in the house next door!

Ik mocht natuurlijk geen foto's maken, maar dat heeft uw reporter als volgt opgelost: ik heb wat uit de folder en de poster geknipt en dat opgeplakt:
rouwtrouwjurk of trouwrouwjurk:


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis

There were mourning costumes on dress forms as well as photos of mourning costumes.
Like this bride and groom in mourning, second half 19th century.


Collection Jans Brands rouwservies

There were special mourning tea sets and coffee sets. All black of course, I didn't know that something like these existed. This particular tea set was not in the museum, I found this on the internet in the collection of Jans Brands.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis rouwbroche

There was a lot of jewelry, like this brooch, with the typical symbolism of death; the grave, a willow, the skull. Too bad I couldn't take a photo of the lead collar. People in mourning used to wear this, to symbolize or perhaps better said to materialize the heavy burden that was resting on their shoulders.
Of course there was a time table in mourning too. The lead collar was changed for a lighter one as time passed.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis
moderne armband 'In Memoriam I' Constanze Schreiber (2006)

There was modern jewelry too;
This silver electroformed bracelet 'In memoriam I' made by Constanze Schreiber in 2006.

and this one:


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis
pinkring, vermoedelijk samengesteld uit verschillende geërfde sieraden. Zo kun je van meerdere dingen die je niet mooi vindt één ding laten maken dat je wel mooi vindt (vermoed ik). Trude Verdegaal 1995 zt.

A ring designed and made by Trude Verdegaal in 1995.
This one specially appealed to me. I once met a gold smith who made special objects of all sorts of jewelry pieces together. Sometimes you inherit a piece that just isn't you.
It would be nice to make something that is you and still has something of the original piece.
I presume that this is a piece like that.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis

Krans van haarwerk. Zo waren er nogal wat snoeren gemaakt van haar, zeer kunstig, maar ook wat bizar, hoewel je de mogelijkheid tegenwoordig om as in een sieraad te laten doen net zo bizar zou kunnen noemen.

And there was a lot of jewelry made out of hair. There were ropes made out of hair that were meant to be used as a watch chain, which seem to be odd, but perhaps not much more peculiar than the possibility of putting the ashes of a beloved one in a charm.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis foto van overleden kind.

My blogging pal Stacey of Flotsam and Jetsam has a very interesting post about cemeteries. And she mentions this too. This is a photo of a mother with her deceased child. Tragic of course, but I think I would like to have one photo of my deceased child too. Zur Erinnerung is German for 'in remembrance'.

No, I don't have a special preoccupation with death and mourning, on the contrary. Though unfortunately it is part of life. This is the object that was in the showcase that made want to visit the exhibition:


Dit was de reden voor mijn komst; een rouwboeket gemaakt van visite kaartjes van condoleance bezoek.
Dit inspireert mij.

(click for more details)
This is a mourning bouquet. It is partly made of the calling cards of those people who came by to pay their respect. I love it! These are the things that inspire me. I want to make something like this out of ephemera. There was a wreath like this inside the museum too.

If you ever visit Dordrecht do visit this museum.
Just click on the first photo to visit the website and to see the address.
I will make another post of the museum in due time.


Na het museum bezoek, dat gratis bleek te zijn tijdens het museumweekend, toch natuurlijk nog even bij Pandora binnen en ik kocht dit geweldige boek uit de jaren '70 voor 1,50!
Biking back to my home, I popped in at Pandora's where I found this book:
Nederlands Familiealbum = Dutch Family Album.
It dates from the nostalgic wave in the 1970ties, when I caught the bug.

170 pages filled with these:

170 pagina's met dit soort foto's. Ik was helemaal gelukkig!
I paid 1,50, that even makes it better!
I think I'll post some photos from this book in due time too.
So stay tuned!
Thanks for giving so many nice compliments in the previous post, unfortunately the studio doesn't stay that way :-(.
Thanks for visiting me,

xoxo LiLi M.

Bedankt voor je bezoek en de complimenten voor LiLi's ateliertje, het blijft niet lang zo hoor dames. Een bezoek aan het museum Simon van Gijn, museum aan huis is een absolute aanrader. Waarom? Ik zal daar nog eens een post aan wijden. Ook zal ik nog eens wat foto's uit dat boek plaatsen. Mmm voor de Pip kamer zal gewoon geen tijd meer zijn. ;-)
Tot ziens, xoxo LiLi M.