Rijksmuseum Twenthe

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The Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, the Netherlands, was founded in 1927 by textile industry Baron G.J. Van Heek. He donated his own private collection and the museum building to the government, thus making it a national museum.

Throughout the decades, the museum has become focused on 18th century art as well as contemporary works, with vast collections of what used to be called Art & Project, an art gallery owned by Geert van Beijeren and Adriaan van Ravesteijn, as well as a large collection of animal paintings by the likes of Wilhelm Kuhnert, Carl Rungius and Bruno Liljefors. The museum also owns a large collection of 18th century works. It is the largest art museum in the east of the country.

In 1996, the museum became a private organisation in the form of a foundation.

In 2000, the fireworks disaster or vuurwerkramp did extensive damage to the building, but the collection of art was completely unharmed. The museum closed for nearly a year to do repairs.

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