Museum Catharijneconvent

The Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht is the Dutch national museum of religious art, set in a late-medieval former Hospitaller convent dating from the 15th century. Its collection spans panel painting, gold and silver work, liturgical vestments, illuminated manuscripts and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the present, documenting both Catholic and Protestant piety in the Netherlands. Opening in 1979, it was named European Museum of the Year the following year. Original 15th-century wall painting survives in the cloister, and the main galleries hold works by Geertgen tot Sint Jans and Jan van Scorel. The museum sits in the centre of the Utrecht old town and combines well with a climb of the nearby Dom Tower.