t Olde Maat Uus Museum

What it is

The 't Olde Maat Uus museum, which now presents itself as Museum Giethoorn, tells how people lived in the village before the hire boats came. It occupies a traditional Giethoorn farmhouse at Binnenpad 52, beside the canal in the old centre, and its claim is clear: it is the only place where you can see inside an authentic village farmhouse. Around it are a small fisherman's cottage, a boat shed and a garden with a haystack frame, the wooden structure for storing hay, which every summer is the stage for a Midsummer's Eve concert.

It answers the question you will ask yourself while strolling: why the village is the way it is. The rooms explain peat extraction, which opened up the canals and the lakes, and Giethoorn's own customs, with stories told by the villagers themselves. There is a film, activities for children, a shop and a café corner.

The story of the house

In 1980 a group of villagers, the Gieters Comité, set out to save the history of the village with a museum in a farmhouse. After several attempts elsewhere, they bought the empty farmhouse at Binnenpad 52 from the Maat family: Hendrik Maat sold his birthplace on 6 May 1986, and that is where the name comes from, "the old Maat house". The farmhouse was in ruins; with heritage grants and about eight months of works it was restored, and the museum opened in May 1988.

The museum also keeps an image archive with some 30,000 photos and historic documents of the village. Until the end of January 2027 it has a temporary exhibition of watercolours and landscapes, "De poëzie van de natuur".

Opening hours

In winter, from 1 November to 31 March, it is open Friday to Monday, from 11:00 to 16:00; during the Christmas and spring school holidays it is open every day at the same hours. It is closed on 25 and 26 December and on 31 December and 1 January. The April to October hours are longer: check the museum's website before you go. Groups can visit outside opening hours by appointment.

Tickets

The fares, valid until 31 December 2026, are €7.50 for adults and €2.50 for children aged 4 to 12; under-4s enter free. With the Museumkaart, the Dutch museum card, admission is free. Groups of 20 to 40 people pay €5.50 per adult and €2 per child.

How long and how to get there

In an hour you see it unhurried, film included. The museum is on the Dorpsgracht footpath, so you arrive on foot or by bike along the Binnenpad, or by boat if you are sailing. You cannot drive into the old centre: leave the car in the car parks at the entrance to the village. By public transport, the bus 70 from Steenwijk drops you at the Dominee Hylkemaweg stop.

Right next door, at Binnenpad 54, is Grachthof, with a terrace over the canal and boat hire.

With children

It works well as a short stop before or after the electric boat: the farmhouse interior, the boat shed and the children's activities give them context for what they then see from the water. With the children's ticket at €2.50, it is a cheap family visit.