Glassfever at Het Dordts Patriciërshuis in Dordrecht, The Netherlands

I recently visited The Dordrechts Museum and Huis van Gijn – two museums partaking in the Glassfever Exhibition currently on in the city of Dordrecht, the Netherlands. The third venue I visited was the Het Dordts Patriciërshuis, also part of the current exhibition. There is in fact a fourth venue too, DordtYart (but I was unable to attend this time – I’ll definitely need to return to complete my visit).

Het Dordts Patriciërshuis is set in the heart of the harbour of Dordrecht and dates from the 18th century, although the plot of land was bought quite a long time before the establishment of an actual building. Some of the rooms in the house still overlook the Maas River (in particular, the Maaskamer, which to this day remains in the original Louis XVI style) and one can only imagine the splendid views from within on a good day.

Inside the house you’ll find the modern glass artworks on display as part of Glassfever. Keep your eyes out for the very suggestive poses of these colourful figurines below.

Additionally, what I found striking about Het Dordts Patriciërshuis is the overall historic interior. In fact, one of the employees took us to see the basement of the house dating from the 1700s. To him, this bottom room is one of the most interesting viewpoints of the house and one can easily see why – it’s the oldest part of the house with the most character and by far the most humble too.

Part of this basement was once used as a summer kitchen as back then people didn’t have fridges and the temperature below the house was cool in order to preserve foodstuffs.

We also had a look around the rooms in the house itself – some of which were very regal in design.

In contrast, the attic demonstrates Dutch living in those days with washing literally hanging from the beams and high up and away from the splendid regal-looking furniture down below.

Het Dordts Patriciërshuis is worth the visit, if not for the current Glassfever Exhibition, then for the beauty of the interior and the view of the Maas on a sunny day.