National Glass Museum

Leerdam has made glass since 1765 and the Royal Leerdam glassworks became the dominant Dutch producer, notable because from 1915 it did something unusual for an industrial factory: it commissioned architects and designers - Berlage, K.P.C. de Bazel, Chris Lanooy, Andries Copier - to design mass-produced tableware, so ordinary Dutch households drank from objects designed by significant figures. Copier ran the design side for decades and also founded the glass school here. The museum holds the national glass collection covering that history along with contemporary studio glass, in a group of buildings including a villa and the studios. There are working furnaces where artists blow pieces in front of visitors and where courses run, and the glass school still trains. The town is otherwise small and the museum is the reason to come.

What you actually see

• Designer tableware from a factory - Berlage, De Bazel and Copier designing for mass production.
• The national glass collection - the Leerdam history and contemporary studio work.
• Working furnaces - artists blowing pieces in front of visitors.
• A glass school - training still running in the town that made Dutch glass.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Glassblowing demonstrations depend on who is working and are not continuous - check the schedule. Closed Mondays. Leerdam is a small town with little else. Workshops book ahead.

Nearby

Gorinchem and Slot Loevestein are south-west; Utrecht is north.