Mayer van den Bergh Museum

On Lange Gasthuisstraat, among the cobblestones and centuries-old facades, lies the Museum Mayer van den Bergh. From the outside it looks modest, but once inside you step back into the atmosphere of a 16th-century patrician house. The museum is a tribute to Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, a 19th-century art collector with an unbounded passion for beauty.

Fritz was especially fascinated by the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His collection began with Bruegel-designed prints, but his greatest discovery was the painting Dulle Griet, also known as Mad Meg. Once forgotten in an auction hall in Cologne, high on a shelf and barely noticed, it was recognized by Fritz as a masterpiece and became the jewel of his collection.

But Fritz wanted more than just to collect. In 1904, he transformed the family home into a museum, making it one of the first in the world dedicated entirely to a single private collection. The collection is remarkable: paintings, sculptures, tapestries, drawings, and stained glass windows that together evoke the spirit of a bygone era.

The highlight is the Bruegel Room, where Dulle Griet takes center stage, inviting visitors to explore Bruegel’s imaginative, sometimes grotesque world. As you walk through the museum’s halls, you feel the dedication and keen eye with which Fritz assembled his treasures.