Museum de Schat van Simpelveld

Museum de Schat van Simpelveld is located in the hills of Limburg, in the middle of the bustling Parkstad region. This museum, housed in a monumental monastery building, displays a large art collection.
The collection of highly refined embroidery from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries belongs to the absolute top of the world. In addition, the museum displays a magnificent collection of paintings, golden chalices, wax figures and medieval sculptures and gives you a glimpse into monastic life at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Museum de Schat van Simpelveld shows the material and immaterial legacy of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus. Until 2012 they lived in the monastery in which the museum is located. From here, they worked worldwide on the care and education of underprivileged children and orphans.
In order to provide for their income, an embroidery workshop was set up in which ecclesiastical vestments of the highest quality were made. Many of these art treasures remained invisible to the outside world for a long time, but can now be seen in the museum.

In addition to the embroidered paraments, there are also wax figures on display. Like Madame Tussaud, the nuns saw opportunities in the nineteenth century to make realistic figures out of wax.
Thousands of Christmas children and Christmas groups were made out of wax and sent all over the world. Not only are some of the finest specimens included in the collection, the museum also shows the complete process of making figures from beeswax.

Art was not only made by the sisters, but also collected. Partly to decorate their monasteries and churches and partly to inspire their embroidery. This collection of beautiful carvings and paintings from the fourteenth century to the present day is now on display in the museum.

Of course, attention is also paid to the monastic life that played such an important role, and to the foundress of the Congregation, Clara Fey, in particular. The perspective of the sisters and the children is discussed extensively.

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