About the Allard Pierson

The Allard Pierson collects, manages, researches and puts on display precious and important cultural heritage from antiquity to today. We make this material available to everybody, in the service of science and society, for the purpose of education and inspiration. We do this as part of the University of Amsterdam, from the heart of the historical city.

We illuminate the past from various perspectives while keeping our finger on the pulse of today’s world. With collections that are available to everybody, and supported by the knowledge and expertise of committed staff, researchers, artists and visitors, we offer pluralistic visions of the future. We also work with local, national and international partners in the social and cultural domains. Our core values are connection, transparency, deepening, quality and innovation.

The building at Oude Turfmarkt 127 was originally constructed as the headquarters of De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands. Various details recall its past. For example, rails for trolleys full of money still run from the quay into the entrance hall.

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The current Allard Pierson exists thanks to the collections of the University of Amsterdam. These collections have been compiled by librarians over centuries. The foundations for the university library were laid in 1578, after the Alteratie, when books and manuscripts belonging to Catholic institutions in Amsterdam were brought together to form a library open to everybody. The first ‘public library’ for Amsterdammers themselves.

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As supervisor and custodian of the historical, art and academic collections of the University of Amsterdam, the Allard Pierson is responsible for many thousands of objects.

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Museums, libraries and comparable institutions can apply to the Allard Pierson for artefacts for exhibition. Read more on this page.

Allard Pierson (1831-1896) was one of the most progressive thinkers of the 19th century. He was born into a prosperous Amsterdam family and had the benefit of a broad education. His first interest was theology. Following his studies, he was called to the ministry in Leuven (Louvain) and later with the Walloon community in Rotterdam. Allard Pierson had modern concepts regarding faith. As a modernist he rejected everything in the Bible that could not be explained. After leaving the church, he was invited to take up the professorship of theology at Heidelberg University in Germany.

Allard Pierson was averse to encrusted ideas in all areas of knowledge. When the University of Amsterdam was established officially in 1877, he was chosen as professor of art history, aesthetics and modern languages. He was returning to the city of his birth. As a passionate lover of the arts and science in the broadest sense of the words, he was an example to many students.

The Allard Pierson, the museum and knowledge institute for the heritage collections of the University of Amsterdam, bears his name with pride.

The aim of the Stichting Allard Pierson is to support the Allard Pierson in the broadest sense of the word. In particular, by increasing awareness, providing financial support for conserving, expanding and presenting the collections of the Allard Pierson , by conducting research, and by supporting the publications in the Allard Pierson Series and other publications.

Read the policy plan and annual financial report here (in Dutch).