News item | 19-09-2025 | 15:45
The Panorama Mesdag Museum, with the famous Panorama painting of Scheveningen, is a Rijksmuseum from 1 January 2026. Minister Moes (Education, Culture and Science) announced this today. The museum is in financially difficult weather. The descendants of Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten have therefore decided to transfer the collection and the museum building to the state. This way this unique and impressive heritage remains accessible to the Dutch and international public.
Minister Moes (Education, Culture and Science): “I am proud that Museum Panorama Mesdag will be a Rijksmuseum. The Panorama, which painted Mesdag together with his wife and other painters, more than a century ago is a view of the Netherlands of our ancestors. I think it is special that the family can keep this unique in -terms of the collection after all those years. enjoy. ”
Indispensable and irreplaceable heritage
On the Panorama of Scheveningen you can see a realistic view from the Seinpostduin. The canvas with a circumference of 120 meters and a height of 14 meters surrounds the viewer, as if you were actually on the dune as a viewer. Panorama’s popular tourist attractions were in the 19th century, but unfortunately most were lost. The Panorama of Mesdag is the oldest specimen worldwide that has been preserved. With more than one hundred thousand visitors every year, it has grown into an important cultural destination in The Hague.
In addition to the panoramic cloth, the collection includes paintings, drawings, prints and photo albums by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten and contemporaries. The Commission protected cultural goods regards the entire collection as irreplaceable and indispensable Dutch cultural ownership.
Steven Storm (Nazaat): “It is with pride and confidence that we as a family are taking this step. Our family – including Hendrik Willem Mesdag – has retained the heritage with love and dedication for almost 140 years. Now the time has come to transfer it to the Netherlands, so that this unique treasure of national significance will also inspire, surprise and connect many in the distant future.”
Iconic collection remains intact
The museum has been in financial heavy weather for a long time. To keep the collection together and to prevent parts from having to be sold, the collection and museum buildings have been transferred to the state. Not much will change for the public: even as a Rijksmuseum, Museum Panorama Mesdag remains responsible for exhibiting and managing the collection. For this, the museum receives a subsidy of 1.8 million euros per year from the OCW budget for museum institutions, especially for maintaining and storing the collection.
Minke Schat (Director Museum Panorama Mesdag): “This transfer marks a historic moment. The artistic, historical and emotional value of this heritage is unparalleled. We are deeply grateful to the family for their generation -long care, and look with optimism to the future in which we can share the panorama and the collection even wider.”
Close relationship with The Hague
The municipality of The Hague is pleased that this pearl Hague is retained and accessible. In recent years, the municipality has worked hard for Museum Panorama Mesdag to keep its doors open to the public, among other things by providing emergency aid. Even now that the museum becomes a Rijksmuseum, the municipality remains closely involved. The municipal subsidy that had been allocated for the museum for the coming years will be used to increase the visibility and accessibility of the museum among young people.