Ultimately, visitors should of course benefit from the changes. “At the moment there are actually two things that are intertwined,” Visser explains the design of the museum. “The story of punishments, sentencing, justice and the prison system,” he calls the first. “And woven through it is the story of Veenhuizen,” he refers to the history of the Second Asylum, part of the Colonies of Benevolence. “We want to give them both a separate exhibition. This also gives the prison story more power and more space.”
The story of the Colonies of Benevolence also presents a challenge. Veenhuizen is one of the colonies that has been awarded UNESCO World status. “The moment you have World Heritage status, what you do with that heritage is examined very critically. Everything you do must be reversible: you must be able to return it to the state it was in.”
Another hurdle in the renovation process is the possible nitrogen emissions. Previously, the Pauperparadijs theater spectacle in the Prison Museum was affected by the nitrogen rules. “It is not self-evident that we can start tomorrow,” Visser also knows. “I hope we can get started in early 2025.”