Experience and learn about the rich history and culture of Utrecht and its environs by joining your fellow HSS attendees on an excursion! All excursions will occur on Tuesday, 23 July 2019. Summaries of excursions are provided below. Book now, as space is limited.
1
City walk incl. Sonnenborgh Museum & Observatory
Start this tour by exploring the city on foot, together with a local guide. There's plenty to discover in the city centre of Utrecht. Turn into a random side street and you'll forget for a moment that you're in the middle of the city. You'll find yourself suddenly in a hidden courtyard, a beautiful garden or a narrow alleyway with a special story. These are Utrecht's forgotten places where time seems to have stood still.
The walk will lead us to the Sonnenborgh museum and observatory. At the historic 19th century observatory, Buys Ballot pioneered meteorology. Later, Minnaert and his students investigated the composition of the sun. Today, Sonnenborgh is a museum and public observatory. Learn all about the unique building, the stars overhead and the weather, or take a virtual journey through the universe in the planetarium. The Sonnenborgh was built on a monumental 16th century city wall bastion, one of the best-preserved in Northern Europe.
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2
City walk incl. Utrecht Botanic Gardens
Start this tour by exploring the city on foot, together with a local guide. There's plenty to discover in the city centre of Utrecht. Turn into a random side street and you'll forget for a moment that you're in the middle of the city. You'll find yourself suddenly in a hidden courtyard, a beautiful garden or a narrow alleyway with a special story. These are Utrecht's forgotten places where time seems to have stood still.
The walk will lead us to the ‘Oude Hortus, the old Botanical Gardens, a green oasis located behind the University Museum. The history of the Utrecht botanical garden goes back to 1636; the orangery dates from 1724. The greenhouses, which were built in 1906-08, hold a great selection of plants and flowers, like the impressive Victoria Longwood. The 250-year old Ginkgo Biloba is one of the oldest known specimens outside of Japan.
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3
Excursion to the Rijksmuseum
We will depart by private coach to the National museum of Amsterdam, “the Rijksmuseum”, which houses the largest collection of paintings by Dutch masters in the world, including masterpieces by Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen and of course Rembrandt, including his Night Watch.
This excursion includes a visit to workshops of the ARTECHNE – Technique in the Arts 1500-1950 project, www.artechne.nl. This project integrates methodologies typical for the humanities and historical disciplines with laboratory work, experimentally reconstructing historical recipes to understand how technique in the visual and decorative arts was transmitted. It connects research in history of science and technology with the expertise in conservation, restoration and technical art history. Small lunch packages included.
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4
Excursion to Huygens’ Hofwijck house and Boerhaave Museum
We will depart by private coach to Huygens’ Hofwijck house in Voorburg, where Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) lived and worked for the last seven years of his life, and wrote his famous Kosmotheoros. The house, one of the most beautifully preserved monuments from the Dutch Golden Age, was designed by his father Constantijn. Some of Christiaan’s original instruments are on display.
After this visit, we will depart by private coach to the Museum Boerhaave, the national museum for the history of science and medicine in Leiden. The museum hosts a unique collection of historical scientific instruments from all disciplines, including original instruments of Huygens and Van Leeuwenhoek as well as the apparatus with which Heike Kamerlingh Onnes first liquefied helium in 1908. The museum is located in a historic building: originally a convent, it became the first academic hospital in Northern Europe as St Caecilia’s Hospital. Some three hundred years ago, Herman Boerhaave instructed his students here at his patients’ bedside. At Boerhaave, you will be received by one of the senior curators of the museum. Small lunch packages included.
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5
Excursion to Teylers Museum
We will depart by private coach to the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum is a uniquely preserved 18th-century public knowledge institution for the arts and sciences. It has been open to the public since 1784, welcoming all those who are eager to look at objects of interest in the visual arts and the sciences. It is the only authentic 18th-century museum interior in the world. The 19th-century rooms have preserved the spirit of that age: time appears to have stood still here.
Teylers museum combines art, natural history, and science museum. Its holdings include fossils, minerals, scientific instruments, medals, coins, and paintings. The heart of the museum is the neoclassical Oval Room (1784). One of its many marvels is a giant electrostatic generator from 1784.The museum was founded by Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702–1778), a wealthy cloth merchant and banker of Scottish descent, who bequeathed his fortune for the advancement of religion, art, and science. You will be received by one of the senior curators of the museum. Small lunch packages included.
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