ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM

Description

Essentials about the Allard Pierson Museum in brief

The Allard Pierson Museum is the archaeology museum of the University of Amsterdam. It has one of the most extensive archaeological collections of the ancient world and is very popular among both scientists and other archaeology fans.

The collection of the Allard Pierson Museum

The museum displays a collection of works of art and everyday objects from Egypt, Etruria, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the Ancient Near East from 4000 B.C. to 500 A.D. The exhibits provide interesting insights into the everyday life, mythology and religion of the ancient world.

The history of the Allard Pierson Museum

The name of the museum comes from Allard Pierson, the first professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam. Pierson assembled a collection of plaster casts between 1877 and 1895. His successor, Jan Six, had a large collection of books and ancient objects. After Six’s death, Pierson’s son established a foundation to create a collection of antiquities for research and teaching from the private collections of professors. Over the years, the collection grew through acquisitions, donations and loans, which is why the Allard Pierson Museum has been housed in the monumental former headquarters of the Dutch Central Bank on the Oude Turfmarkt since 1976.