Dutch Museum Saba receives donations

The first instalment of a collection which included antique Dutch tiles and oriental rugs were officially donated to the Foundation Dutch Museum Saba last week, in addition to the substantial investment donated personally by Museum curator René Caderius van Veen for creating and starting the Museum.

The tiles date from between 1625 to 1850, and the rugs and camel bags are all from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the future there will be more donations to the Foundation of portions of the collections, Caderius van Veen stated.

The Saba Museum Foundation started officially in November 2014; since then the Museum, located at Park Lane Street in Windwardside, has welcomed many visitors most of whom are tourists.

Apart from investigating the shared history of Saba, the neighbouring islands, and the Netherlands from 1640 to 1800, the Museum also gave many presentations about this subject to visitors in 2015 and 2016.

An important objective of the Museum is to preserve and exhibit artefacts from the period 1600 to 1850. These antiquities have been collected in the Netherlands since about 1850 by the great-grandmother of Caderius van Veen, who has been a resident of Saba since January 1, 2011. His grandmother and her two daughters also contributed to the collection, which was kept at the Boschplaatse manor in Blijham in the north-eastern province of Groningen in the Netherlands. All antiquities were transported to Saba in a 40-feet container except for the items in which Caderius van Veen’s sons had an interest.

Caderius Van Veen married Lady (jonkvrouw) Louise de Savornin Lohman in 1969. They divorced after having been together for 43 years. After the divorce the manor was put up for sale and Caderius van Veen went looking for another paradise which he found on Saba.

To honour his ancestors, the idea emerged to keep the antiquities collections together and to donate these to the Museum Foundation. “This would create a very special and unique extra attraction for tourists. This is hopefully contributing to the attractions of Saba for tourists, together with the presentations about the history of the Dutch West India Company,” Caderius Van Veen said.

The Daily Herald.