CODA Museum — Attraction in Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn is called "City in Green", and it mainly thrives on the beautiful surroundings in which it is located. In terms of museums, there is less to do than in many other cities, but the CODA museum is highly recommended. It's not big, but definitely nice for a rainy afternoon. The public library and the municipal archives are located in the same building. The CODA museum offers changing exhibitions with modern art, visual art, contemporary fashion and jewelry by (inter)national designers and artists. In addition, there are thematic exhibitions and presentations about the history of Apeldoorn and its surroundings. The biennial Paper Art exhibition is a must-see. Every year you will be surprised by very beautiful and original designs made of paper, ranging from small works of art, objects and jewelry to life-size installations, made by Dutch and international artists. You fall from one surprise into another when you look at the often very beautiful and very original works of art. Well worth your time and attention! Also interesting for school children. This Covid-19 year - 2021 - there is also a small exhibition of very special and artistic masks. The facilities are excellent, the building is wheelchair accessible and wheelchairs can be borrowed. At the CODA café you can enjoy hot and cold drinks, delicious pastries, snacks and...

This museum is very poorly signposted - despite it being quite small, we really struggled to find 2 of the 3 exhibitions ("Sprekende juwelen" and Henk Visch) even after asking staff. Instead of having placards next to pieces in these exhibits, you are given printed booklets that you have to keep flipping through to find info on what you're seeing which was both frustrating and a huge waste of paper. The new Travelling Bricks exhibition itself was nice, but a real shame that none of the Lego builders/creators are credited. Luckily entry was free with the Museumkaart because I certainly would not be pleased to pay for...

The exhibition content has been carefully put together and curated. As one of the main museums that contributes a part of its collection to contemporary jewellery it certainly deserve more attention. However there is no English translation available whatsoever and I found that quite frustrating as an international visitor. Also there's no way to access the cafe once inside the museum. Not that the space is too big that requires coffee and snack break, it would just be nice to reutilize the corridor that seems to be available...