Since the flood disaster of July 14, we as Museum Valkenburg have ended up in a “rollercoaster” of clearing rubble, cleaning, drying and “carrying water”. Looks like we’ll have to stay closed for a while.

It is quiet in our museum at the moment. The construction workers are on vacation and the dryers and fans do their job during the construction period. At the end of August, the moisture content of the (marl) walls will be measured to see if they are dry enough to start building.

We have created a “water carrier” schedule with our volunteers to empty the full water troughs twice a day, unimaginable to see that we can throw away hundreds of liters of collected water every day. We also get help from Joost! Joost is a student from Valkenburg who now fills the gaps in our schedule and empties the buckets.

The paintings that were collected immediately the Friday after the flood were carefully examined and treated. Of the approximately 85 works, 7 were damaged. These have been taken to a restoration studio. The rest of the works are back with the owners. Two small works by Judith Krebbekx had fallen to the ground during the flood and are irreparable.

Full of courage, our team of volunteers continues to open our beautiful museum as soon as possible.