New Airborne "Hartenstein" Museum in Oosterbeek

[JEROEN1944]

Hallo Chaps,

I know some of the guys are going to Arnhem this year. The museum has a new jacket and a complete renovation. Judge for yourself in september.
Me and some other guys posted some pics from the "New" Hartenstein museum on the Dutch Tommy-Talk forum. I went to see it yesterday.
Well here is the link.
http://www.tommy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?t=8368
There is a debat going on if it has been an improvement.

Jeroen

[Jesse]

Interesting to see what's still in the ground. Not sure about that glass atrium tacked on the side. The 17 pounder and Sherman are still there?

I have to say I liked it as it was. I know these days you "have" to have some kind of digital display and stuff, but the charm of this museum was that it was a little old fashioned.

I will check it out in 2 weeks.

J

[force136]

Hi Jeroen

Thanks for those "few" pictures. I had not heard of any major reconstruction? I think it is a good idea because they can tear up the ground to find more artefacts while at the same time establish a museum with more space in order to display the larger bits in a great diarama style display. The hotel, by-itself, was too small.

My main gripe ( I know, here we go again ) for many museums in Canada is the lack of story behind displays and lack of explanations as to WHY things happened. I hope they put as much emphasis on telling the story in a way which can be followed and understood as they appear to have done in the remodel.

I hope all goes well for them!

Thanks

Ken

Hallo Chaps,

I know some of the guys are going to Arnhem this year. The museum has a new jacket and a complete renovation. Judge for yourself in september.
Me and some other guys posted some pics from the "New" Hartenstein museum on the Dutch Tommy-Talk forum. I went to see it yesterday.
Well here is the link.
http://www.tommy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?t=8368
There is a debat going on if it has been an improvement.

Jeroen

[G.F.C.]

Did they FINALLY put a Polish radio operator in the basement ???????

[JEROEN1944]

I`m like the new museum, the old museum was to small, there you right Ken. (rebuilding started in 2008) Tons of stuff is now in the storerooms, and not on display, most of these items were gifts from vets and local people who gave it to the museum. The debat is about that, and that they changed it radical to modern so that the " old fashion" look is gone. I like it, but i must say its no longer a collectors museum, its for everyone now. If you have 20 years the same, its difficult to change. Maybe its for me easier because i dont collect Arnhem. The museum looks a little like the pegasus museum now.
The Sherman is still there. I did not notised a Polish radio operater in the basement.

Jeroen

[Mk1rceme]

LOL! I had to post this pic from 1982. Yes, that is my fat little ass on top.



Glad to see the museum got a facelift. I hope to visit it again soon.

[JEROEN1944]

Not nice to climb on one of our national munuments......

Jeroen

[G.F.C.]

Hell..... I crawled inside it through ventral escape hatch back in 1980 !

[Adrian Stevenson]

I am off to Arnhem next week, so I will give me opinion once I have seen it in person.

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Well, I never even went in! I stood there for nearly 15 mins trying to pay, but the guys behind the counter were more interested in selling over priced souvenirs to people or making phone calls When they finally got around to us, the guy could not even use the card machine correctly, so the three of us walked out! All my friends who visited earlier in the week hated it.

Cheers, Ade.

[AB64]

Well, I never even went in! I stood there for nearly 15 mins trying to pay, but the guys behind the counter were more interested in selling over priced souvenirs to people or making phone calls When they finally got around to us, the guy could not even use the card machine correctly, so the three of us walked out! All my friends who visited earlier in the week hated it.

Cheers, Ade.

I made it in on Saturday, waited a bit in a queue, got to the front paid my money and the Lady told me I couldnt have a ticket, I wasnt keen on going in without anything to show I had paid so she gave me an old stub from under the desk but did so as if it was a real hassle.

The museum was busy, in the bit above ground it seemed to have less than their had been before, some was in drawers beneath display cases that were awkward to get at when other people were looking at things. The downstairs area seemed a massive increase in available area but it seemed to have very little content, the dioramas were badly lit so hard to actually see any detail of the items.

Some of the other lads went in on Monday morning and commented that lots of people were just walking in without paying, when its busy it must be hard for anyone to check those entering the museum have paid as the cash registers are a bit off the entrance, and their was no one at the bottleneck checking tickets (which would have been easy and seemed sensible).

Overall it just seemed a lot of money had been spent and a lot of effort put in for no benefit - not really saying it was worse than before (well maybe a bit) but I'm sure the investment could have been so much better used.

Alistair

[lnijherald]

I guess I was lucky, a friend who works there as a volunteer helped me to avoid the queue and showed me around.
I like the airborne experience to a certain degree. It was too dark for me, the civilian car is not quite typical for Holland in 1944 and there was no explanation of what was on display. The dioramas were ok, but viewing them through holes in the wall is not very practical.
The wonderful artillery gun display has no mannequins at all, and I badly miss my old "friend" the second glider pilot.
The old Hartenstein was small and cramped, now it is huge and empty.

Luc