Tassenmuseum Hendrikje (Hendrikje Museum of Bags and Purses)

Tassenmuseum Hendrikje (Hendrikje Museum of Bags and Purses) Review

Housed in a building from 1664, this unusual museum has the largest collection (more than 4,000) of handbags and purses in the world, plus regular exhibitions highlighting the work of contemporary designers. There are beautiful examples going back several centuries and even a few man bags—check out the goatskin model with 18 secret pockets that could be buckled to the belt of a 16th-century merchant-about-town. And what's not to love about a leather clutch bag in the shape of a luxury liner complete with funnels (it was a freebie for first-class passengers on the maiden voyage of the Normandie) or a 19th-century wallet with embroidered love poem? All of this is the collection of one woman, Hendrikje Ivo, and it all started with a tasseled bag bought in Norwich, England. There are workshops for kids, a café overlooking a lovely garden, and (of course) a shop.