The Frans Hals Museum and Surprise! A quilt shop.

This afternoon I walked over to the Frans Hals Museum.  I was almost to the museum when the Google mapping car drove past me.  I've seen the Google car several times in the past, but it still surprises me when I see it.  I wonder if they will erase me from the images.

The Frans Hals Museum is a hofje that is home to the municipal museum in Haarlem, that was established in 1862. The main collection, including its famous 17th-century Frans Hals  paintings, for which the museum is named, is located in the former Oude Mannenhuis on the Groot Heiligland. 

The collection is based on the large number of paintings owned by the City of Haarlem, which includes over 100 artworks seized from Catholic churches in the 1580s after the Protestant Reformation, and Haarlem art rescued from demolished local buildings from the 15th century on wards.

 The building is very old and beautifully detailed.  Inside, there are many rooms with paintings on the walls.  

At the entrance there is a exhibit of Dutch Silver, mostly religious vessels and baptismal pieces.

This painting was huge

Mercury

One of the rooms was especially beautiful.  It has dark blue drapes to keep the sunlight from the paintings.  The walls are covered with gilded leather wall hangings that are stitched together in panels, much like wall paper.

Each wall has a different design.

 The museum is built around a courtyard with a beautiful sun dial.  The garden is manicured much like an English garden with boxwood hedges and begonias.  The walkways form a cross around a circle in the center with wooden benches for sitting.  I sat for a while and enjoyed the beauty of the garden and the amazing blue skies.

When I left the museum, I almost turned to my left, the way I entered the museum, but I noticed what looked like the canal at the end of the street and turned to my right.  This turned out to be a really good thing because just a few buildings away was a quilt shop.  I stopped in to see their fabrics and picked up a few fat quarters to add to my Circus Mischief quilt.