Quote: Mauritshuis
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 11am-5pm pm
Monday 10am-5pm from April-September
Admission: €9.50, includes audio tour

This is a fairly small museum. It's also easy to navigate—no danger of having to back track or forgetting a room. Currently they're hosting the special exhibition "Dream of Italy" which includes paintings by the artists, mainly Dutch and French, who thought Italy was the best place in the world, and they painted it as such. It's okay, if you like landscapes.

The Rembrandts and Vermeers are the highlights. "Girl with a pearl earring" is housed here. The museum wasn't very busy, despite being a Friday in June, which makes me think that The Hague, while still touristy, is just enough off the beaten path that it avoids the crowds that plague Amsterdam. It was great, because you can spend a lot of time at each painting and you have room to move around it without feeling like you're always in someone's way.

Go for the girl with the pearl earring, stay to enjoy the other Vermeers and the Rembrandts.
From journals All Netherlands, All the Time

Quote: The Maurithuis is a big grand mansion. The internal decor is worth seeing. The top floor had a collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including some by Rembrandt. I was impressed by the detail in the paintings. If you look closely, even things like tiny insects, patterns on fabrics, and stains can be seen. It certainly does not take a modern minimal detail approach. Other paintings showed Dutch life in times past. There were paintings of rich people on hunts, finely detailed portraits and family life at the top end of wealth. There were others of the lower end of life. People crowded into sparsely furnished houses, drunks, and lower class life. Whilst the artist can lie, it is about as close a portrait of life as you're ever going to see. There are also religious paintings. One of the temptation of Eve is especially good, with fine detail.

Each room has information sheets in different languages. Not all of the pictures have information on them; some do not.

The gift shop on the ground floor stocks a range of art postcards, crafts and books. There were limited posters etc.

According to the entry board, there is a student discount. However, ISIC cards are not accepted - we tried - so I assume it applies to local institutions only.

From journals Wild Weekend in The Hague

Quote: The museum houses an important collection of paintings by Dutch masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer, among works by Dutch and Flemish artists from the 15th to 17th century, Netherland's golden age.

The museum was originally the home of Johan Maurits, who was the governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil in the 17th century. The mansion is located in downtown Hague, next to the government buildings.

Admission 6.5 dutch florins. Audio guides are available.

From journals The Hague in brief

Quote: The Mauritshuis is a magnificent collection of 15th to 18th century Dutch painting, beautifully displayed in a lovely Hague mansion. Allow an afternoon to fully enjoy the collection, and to make your visit even more enjoyable I strongly suggest hiring one of the recorded audio tours. It will make the paintings, and the stories behind them, come alive.
From journals The Hague, perfect base for excursions