Leeuwarden - Municipal Museum

A fine classical-style mansion at Grote Kerkstraat 15, the Princessehof (17th-18th C.), houses the Municipal Museum. The house was once occupied by Princess Maria Louise, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (1688-1765), widow of Stadholder Johan Willem Friso. The museum buildings include a former store and a mansion of the 15th-16th centuries (Papingstins, No. 13), with a restored onion-domed tower.

The nucleus of the museum was a collection assembled by a local lawyer named Nanne Ottema (1874-1944), a connoisseur of Chinese porcelain. It includes a varied range of ceramics in different styles and techniques, including porcelain from East Asia, Korea and Japan, tiles from Japan, China and Southeast Asia, Art Nouveau work (Rozenburg eggshell porcelain) and examples by contemporary potters.