I wanted to see the Louwman Museum since I had the opportunity to witness their equally funny and educational microcar collection at the 2016 Interclassics Brussels. The showcased midgets were rather cute, the museum in the Hague, however, is much more impressive, and in many ways, it is one of the world’s most comprehensive car collections (the detailed catalogue is available on their website). One small example of that is the bold claim to hold the biggest collection of pre-1910 cars, but it is arguably one of the most balanced collection in terms of geographic origin, era and category.
So I travelled to the Hague last year to see it for myself and found a top contender for the world’s best car museum title. A small update: I had another visit in 2019 to see their Microcar exhibition, and I also replenished the galleries, the dates are indicated on the photos.
The Museum was established and is still managed by the Louwman family, as their private collection. Initially, the collection was founded in 1934 by a young (then 20-year-old!) dealer of the Dodge Motor Company, Pieter Louwman, the current owner’s father.
The collection has been expanding and integrating other collections ever since. The current owner of the collection is Evert Louwman, who has expanded the collection’s faible for exotic brands.
He is also a key figure in the Dutch new car market, as flagship dealer for Lexus, Toyota and Suzuki brands (there are many traces of his close ties to the Toyota Motor Corporation in the museum).
The museum changed name and location for a number of times, from the National Motor Museum in 1981 to the property of the Louwman family, and in 2003, it took up the name Louwman Collection. The current building in the Hague was inaugurated in 2010 by H.R.H Queen Beatrix, who lives next door by the way.
The building, showcases a modern and functional Dutch Architecture with red brick tiles and beautiful green park. The restaurant is worth a try, it is quite stylish and the prices are in touch with reality. My favourite was the Flammkuchen with truffle and Prosciutto di Parma for 8 euros, and delicious cakes await their fate for 4 euros.
The restaurant hall is overseen by a Zeppelin cabin that is accessible from the first floor. Although the cabin was unfortunately locked, there is a window on the door of the flight deck to see what is outside. These are minor elements of the decoration to a world class collection, but shows the perfectionism and the love for details.
The modern building is full of architecture-finesse, conceptual brilliance and an eye for detail. Like that fact that all visiting cars are hidden to a functional underground garage, and those arriving by car should expect an extra cost of 5 euros.
At Louwman’s, the term museum is taken very seriously, the vehicles of the earliest epoque occupy an entire floor, ranging from pedestrian-propelled litters and horse carriages…
– to strange three-wheel things to real four-wheeled cars with transmission and brakes, that are comparable to cars of nowadays in their concept.
Reaching to the light from the obscure corridor, I arrived at a long hall showcasing the accelerating pace of mobilization throughout the decades until the 40s.
The strength of Louwman Museum is the extremely professional architectural presentation: the colours are effective, the lighting is functional, the rooms follow a clear choreography.
The Museum experience takes on a ride as if we were sitting on a cultural roller coaster, where the discreet twilight quarters allow to rest our mind until the next breathtaking extravaganza is coming.
The Louwman follows a perfect choreography, and the layout somehow reminds me of the Mercedes-Benz factory Museum (e.g., an elevator brings visitors to the top floor, where the exhibition starts). The main difference from the Stuttgart or Munich museums is that the Lowman traded the cool professional techno style with a warm and colourful ambient of an Art Gallery.
The journey through the pre-World War and the roaring twenties decades leads to a showroom of microcars mainly from the postwar period. In the aftermath of World War II, they were widely used throughout Western Europe, and there are specialised museums and exhibitions like the collection of PS Speicher.
Of course, when the Trabant 601 came out, the Isetta and the Kabinroller were no longer an everyman’s car, but this section reminds us that the situation was not always so rosy in the West, as today.
Among the strangelings, I particularly recall the amphibious Amphicar and the boat looking show car that would probably sink in no time.
Following the roller coaster, after the funny midgets, the Museum takes on a more serious topic, namely the history of alternative powertrains.
The hall kick-starts with dozen engines and drivetrain variants. It is quite impressive to see how many serious attempts have been launched for using alternative energy sources, such as steam engines or electric motors.
This theme also gives Mr. Louwman a chance to show his fable for Toyotas, of course, there is a Prius parked there.
The technical section is followed by a hall, whose concept is really difficult to crystallize. It consists of cars like the Kübelwagen, and it’s rather a passage from the technical section to the next covering famous or celebrity cars (like Churchill’s Limo).
There is a car from the set of the Godfather Movie, a Low Rider Caddy from Elvis Presley’s collection.
Another highlight is the legendary Aston Martin DB5 used by James Bond in the movie Goldfinger (the car was one of four original cars to promote the movie, and the car included all the gadgets from the movie).
After leaving the movie section, I arrived at the discrete darkness of an Art gallery and memorabilia collection that relaxes the stimulus and allows to gather our strength for the next showroom.
From the nimble dusk, a flamboyant and futuristic coupe stroke me when I hit the light, and for the next 20 minutes, the Museum doesn’t take back from the pace.
From here I take a rhetorical break to allow swift loading of the article. For the next part, I recommend to click the article below or scroll to the bottom of the page.
