Brabant Collection

The Brabant Collection is a unique collection of objects from Brabant’s past and present, comprising about 15,000 pictures, prints, maps, drawings and watercolors and 20,000 postcards. The maps collection includes a great many unique and exceptional pieces. The Collection also contains almost 1,000 manuscripts and about 2,000 old letters. Very special are the 20,000 printed books dating back to before 1851, including a core collection of 1,000 Brabant books from before 1801.

Promoting arts and sciences

The Collection was put together by the Provincial Society for the Arts and Sciences in the Province of North-Brabant. After provincial independence had been regained, this Society was established in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1837, its aim being to “promote the arts and sciences in general and those of the Province of North-Brabant in particular.” When the Society took a turn for the worse, the province took over the library and the print room in 1986 and passed it on to be managed by the library of what was then the Catholic University of Brabant.

Important maps

The Brabant Collection’s most prized possessions also include collections from monastic orders, 1632 vintage prints by Brabant photographer Martien Coppens and, since 1983, the truly exceptional Roman-Visscher map. This map, depicting the Duchy of Brabant and entitled Ducatus Brabantiae novissima descriptio per Nicolaum Ioa. Visscherum, was made by Zacharias Roman (1595-ca. 1675) and Nicolaas lohannes Visscher (1618–1679). It is the most important cartographic overview of 17th century Brabant and a most outstanding work of art of the Golden Age. As the most complete map known so far, its cultural value is immeasurable.