The Netherlands Open Air Museum is an open-air museum located in Arnhem with antique houses, farms and factories from different parts of the Netherlands.

It is a national museum focusing on the culture associated with the everyday lives of ordinary people. This will be linked to key aspects of Dutch history, including the Dutch East India Company and Michiel de Ruyter, as well as the First World War, slavery and child labour.

The park was established on 24 April 1912 and open to the public from July 1918, over the last century the Netherlands Open Air Museum has grown to become one of the country’s most visited museums. Annually, the museum has more than 555,000 visitors.

The Museum

The park is about 44 hectares in area and includes buildings from various places and historical periods. There are around forty historic buildings that you can enter and see from the inside and there is also a historic tram that can transport you through the park. Inside the historic houses and farms there might be employees or volunteers available that can tell you more about the house and its history. The museum also has a collection of historical clothing and jewellery. New indoor exhibition space was built in 1999–2000. The museum won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2005.

On site at the museum, there are re-enactors demonstrating the old way of life. Among these demonstrations are paper production, linseed production, and beer brewing.

The heritage tram line opened in the museum in 1996. The line is 1750 m long, standard gauge. It has classic electric trams from Amsterdam, Arnhem, Rotterdam, and The Hague. The pride of the museum’s line is a replica of an Arnhem tram from 1929, the GETA 76, which was constructed by the museum.