Drents Museum on Monday: Angkor beside finds from Drenthe

A new exhibition about Angkor and the permanent collection display Labyrinthia show how one museum tells archaeological stories on two scales.

Museum Magazine · 19 October 2026

Brick façade of the historic Drents Museum beneath overhanging tree branches. — The historic Drents Museum building in Assen, photographed in 2012. Photo: A.E. van Kooten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. A.E. van Kooten / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image source

An elephant bell is in Assen this autumn. It features in Angkor – The Mystery of Cambodia, an exhibition that opened on 17 October. Visitors to the Drents Museum on Monday 19 October can also see Labyrinthia, the ongoing display of its own collection. The museum is open on this extra Monday.

The Angkor galleries contain original objects from Cambodia dating from the ninth to the fifteenth century. The museum highlights a portrait of King Jayavarman VII, a relief showing scenes from the life of the Buddha, inscriptions and the elephant bell. Together, these objects show a history extending beyond the temple of Angkor Wat: religious practices, rulers and a city with its own past.

Dark museum gallery with visitors and the long wooden Pesse canoe in an illuminated case. — The Pesse canoe in an earlier archaeology display at the Drents Museum, photographed in 2019. Photo: C messier / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. C messier / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

The exhibition links the objects to research. According to the museum, inscriptions help establish the sequence of rulers; lidar, a laser-based surveying method, has revealed more about Angkor’s layout and water management. Videos and interactive elements support the story. The exhibition is scheduled to run until 9 May 2027.

Labyrinthia turns to the museum’s own collection. Across fifteen rooms it brings together archaeology, art and the history of Drenthe. The museum names the Pesse canoe, the Yde Girl and paintings by Van Gogh among its key works. Moving images, sound and hands-on elements also feature in the permanent display, offering more than a line of cases.

Together, the two displays define the museum at this moment: objects and research from Cambodia in a temporary gallery, and the Drenthe collection in Labyrinthia. Their histories are different. What connects them is the need to understand where objects were found, how they were used and what research can tell us about them.

The Drents Museum is at Brink 1 in Assen and is open from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday 19 October. According to museum information checked on 12 October, an adult ticket during Angkor costs €25, including a €7.50 exhibition surcharge; admission is free for visitors under 18. Labyrinthia includes sound, video and spaces with strong sensory stimuli. The museum provides accessibility information for visitors sensitive to these.