About the Museum | Come and see ..! | Exhibitions | Renewal | Info
About the Museum
Spinoza settled in Rijnsburg in 1661. This village was known at the time as a meeting place for Collegiants, a liberal Protestant movement, among which Spinoza had friends. As a boarder, he had a small room in the house of the surgeon Herman Homan, where he ground lenses for optical instruments and where he wrote down his musings with a goose pen..
The Vereniging Het Spinozahuis bought the house in 1897 and converted it into a museum. Until 2001, the museum part consisted of two rooms. After a major restoration, the entire house was converted into a modern museum.
Come to the Museum Het Spinozahuis and ….
- open the door to the time, the ideas and the insights of our most important thinker and get to know Spinoza.
- discover why he is still one of the most famous and relevant philosophers in the world
- visit the reconstructed Spinoza library, with the books he owned at the time of his death;
- discover how Spinoza made a living as a lens grinder and how a 17th-century grinding machine works;
- get to know the special history of the 17th-century Spinoza house; experience the sober, authentic atmosphere;
- see various portraits and sculptures made of Spinoza over the centuries.
Exhibitions
In addition to the permanent exhibition about Spinoza, there is the temporary exhibition: “A book forged in hell”. The Theological Political Treatise that Spinoza wrote 350 years ago caused a lot of commotion. It is about the role of the state, the relationship between church and state, democracy, freedom of speech and the use of reason. Surprisingly current topics. Learn why some say this book was forged in hell.
Museum Het Spinozahuis renews
In order to do justice to the Netherlands’ greatest philosopher, Museum Het Spinozahuis urgently needs a facelift and redesign. The Vereniging het Spinozahuis plans to expand the museum with a new entrance and reception area. Read more
Contact en address
Museum Het Spinozahuis
Spinozalaan 29
2231 SG Rijnsburg
+31 (0)71-4029209
www.museumhetspinozahuis.nl
museum@spinozahuis.nl
Accessibility
Public transport from Leiden CS:
By bus 37 to Katwijk, stop Spinozalaan.
By bus 20 or bus 21 to Noordwijk, stop Oegstgeesterweg or Noordeinde.
By car from Amsterdam via A4 and A44 and from Rotterdam via A13 and A44.
Group visits and guided tours
Groups larger than 5 visitors (also possible outside opening hours) and guided tours: tour@spinozahuis.nl
To book group tours please send an email to: rondleiding@spinozahuis.nl.
For all other information please contact: museum@spinozahuis.nl