Exhibition Orange Pipes

3 April 2013

Following the festivities of the inauguration of Prince Willem Alexander as King of the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Pipe Museum organizes an exhibition on two centuries of the family of Orange in pipes entitled 'Long live the King, 200 years Kingdom, Orange and pipes'. We show commemorative pipes related to marriage, birth and coronation in the Royal Family. These pipes show both the development of pipe design and the public support for our royals.

Some special items are safeguarded by the museum, such as a letter from 1826 by a proud Gouda pipe maker, who offered King Willem I a box of special designed clay pipes. Queen Wilhelmina signed a silk bound guestbook when she visited the Goedewaagen Pipe Works in 1897, which is on view. A moving object is a briar pipe, carved by a member of the Dutch resistance with the portrait of Queen Wilhelmina. More recent is the favorite pipe of Prince Bernhard that he offered to the pipe museum. His family crest of Lippe-Bisterfeld is engraved on the silver ring around the pipe stem. Most precious object from the exhibition is the silver cigarette case that the Prince was once offered by the Sultan of Lankat on Sumatra. In very fine enamel a portrait of the Indonesian sultan decorates the cover of this fine case.

The exhibition 'Long Live the King' can be seen from 3 April to 15 June 2013. Free guided tours.

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