Collections

Museum Schokland houses collections in the fields of geology, history, archaeology, and several art objects.

The museum holds these collections on long-term loan from the municipality of Noordoostpolder. On behalf of the municipality, they are managed by a committee of independent experts: the Van der Lijn Committee.

Collections

Geology

Rocks form the largest collection in the museum. It consists of thousands of erratics/glacial boulders from Northern Netherlands, rocks from Scandinavia, limestone fossils, and minerals. For years, volunteers collected rocks from the bedrock in Scandinavia and brought them to Schokland. These so-called ‘mother rocks’ are important for glacial geology, petrological, and petrographic research. It is the largest museum study collection of Scandinavian rocks in the Netherlands.

In the 1960s, the then well-known amateur geologists Pieter van der Lijn and Bernhard Boelens bequeathed their private collections to the municipality of Noordoostpolder. Since then, their historical collections have been housed at Museum Schokland.

The museum’s fossil collection of Ice Age mammals contains several hundred items, mostly from the IJssel Delta. Additionally, the museum has small collections of mollusks and soil profiles from the Noordoostpolder and Flevoland.

History

The collection is related to the history of the Zuiderzee area and Schokland and the Noordoostpolder in particular. The artifacts range from everyday objects and tools, pottery, ship models, anchors, coins, nautical items, decorative tiles, drainage pipes, parts of aircraft wrecks, to a high water cannon.

Archaeology

A small but unique collection of archaeological finds from the World Heritage Site Schokland and the Noordoostpolder. The highlight is a set of prehistoric human footprints dating back approximately 4,000 years. These are among the oldest human footprints in Europe.

Art

A few dozen historical and modern art objects. The varied collection consists of paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures made from various materials.
In addition, the museum has an extensive library and documentation, primarily focused on glacial geology and the history of the Zuiderzee area, Schokland, and the Noordoostpolder.

The image archive consists of several thousand (historical) photos, slides, and a small collection of films and documentaries.