Museum in the Top Ten
of International Fashion Museums
The large and sometimes unusual collection of bags, purses and accessories did not escape worldwide attention. The Museum of Bags and Purses, also known as Museum Hendrikje, was frequently praised by internationally acclaimed magazines, and it was regularly included in the top 10 fashion museums worldwide.
Some examples:
2011 – Fodor’s Travel included the Museum of Bags and Purses in its Top 10 of the World’s Best Fashion Museums. Fodor was impressed by both the ‘most important collection of bags in the world’ and its location on Amsterdam’s famous Herengracht. The Tassenmuseum Hendrikje shared this honor with several internationally renowned fashion museums such as London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Paris Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode, and the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, to name a few.
2012 – The Amsterdam Time Out Magazine voted the Museum of Bags and Purses winner of Amsterdam’s ‘Best Speciality Museum’.
2014 – Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool voted the museum store of the Museum of Bags and Purses the very best store in town in which to shop after a museum visit. ‘After viewing hundreds of beautiful bags and purses on display, you may want to take one home for yourself.’
2015 – According to the Guardian the Museum of Bags and Purses was ‘A museum that you’ve probably never heard of, but you must see.’
2015 – Forbes‘ journalist Laurie Werner sang praises about the museum and described it as ‘Not the typical Amsterdam museum: a jewel box devoted to purses’.
2015 – Condé Nast Traveler judged the museum among sixteen of the World’s Greatest Fashion Museums. Among those were the Christian Dior Museum and Garden in France, the Italian Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Simone Handbag Museum in South Korea and the Gucci Museum in Florence.
2015 – Signature Luxury Travel & Style (Australia) rated the museum 11th in its Top 15 Best Fashion Museums. It stressed the fact that the museum is the largest museum of bags and purses in the world.
2016 – The Art of Style rated the museum among sixteen of the World’s Greatest Fashion Museums. ‘The museum is, unsurprisingly, home to one of the best gift shops in the city, and its tea room is one of Amsterdam’s finest.’
2016 – stylecaster.com ranked the Tassenmuseum Hendrikje at 5th place in its “10 Best Museums Around the World for Fashion Lovers”: ‘It is the largest museum for the accessory in the world, and traces purses from their role as a carryall for Bibles and money for men in the Middle Ages through their prized place in a modern woman’s luxury wardrobe.
2019 – Christies was most impressed by the Museum of Bags and Purses and viewed it as ‘the best museum for handbag collectors’.
Thanks to this worldwide praise the Museum of Bags and Purses, known as Tassenmuseum Hendrikje, received lots of free publicity. Beginning at a few hundred thousand Euros annually, this publicity finally equaled 1.9 million Euros a year. That’s quite something compared to the world-renowned Van Gogh Museum with its more than two million Euros worth of free publicity.