Before 1800, medicine was the work of the medicinal doctor and the barber-surgeon. In the 19th century, the town or country surgeon appeared...
Welcome to the best museum
of Hilvarenbeek!
At Museum de Dorpsdokter , you will experience a surprising journey through the medical past. We bring doctors and surgeons to life. Doctors carried out diagnoses, surgeons did the manual work. Many of their instruments are on display in the museum. It will be an exciting journey.
We tell the story of the Village Doctor of yesteryear.
He lived in a time when he often had to visit his patients on foot. In the showcases, you can see the instruments he used. These instruments make the past tangible! Very special, for instance, are the flints, knives for bloodletting. The word vlijm is still found in our word 'vlijmscherp (sharp as a razor)'.
Museum de Dorpsdokter owns a very nice little painting in which we see the village doctor of old at work. A doctor hurries with hunched shoulders to the house at the end of a dirt road.
Medicinae Doctor
His bag reads MD - Medicinae Doctor. It is dusk, the lights in the house are already on. The shadow cast by the doctor in front of him betrays what he has come for: a woman is about to give birth. At the front door, a nervous husband waits...
There are SO many stories to tell.
Read them here, or drop by!
To stories
Take a look around the museum and discover a few special pieces from our collection below!
In the waiting room
at...
The waiting room is a place you'd rather not visit, but sometimes there's no other way, you have to. Below are a number of medical professions. When you click on a profession, you leave the waiting room and enter the consulting room where you will be helped with your problem.
The Village Doctor
Physiotherapist
The Dutch physician and masseur Johann Georg Mezger (1838-1909) is considered one of the founding fathers of remedial gymnastics, a treatment to the musculoskeletal system that from 1960 we call physiotherapy....
Pharmacist
Now you get prescription drugs from the pharmacist and shampoo, soap or remedies for headaches or heartburn from the chemist. Pharmacists and chemists used to be competitors.
District nurse
Care has always been there, but professional nursing only came in the 19th century. After 1850, such care was increasingly organised centrally.
Dentist
For centuries, the dentist was a fairground attraction and, at best, an occupation of the barber-surgeon who could do little more than pull teeth and...
Chemist
The name 'druggist' comes from the Middle Dutch 'dry'. The name 'drugs' is also derived from this. Herbs prescribed by doctors in the past were often dried first.
Midwife
The profession of midwifery is as old as mankind. They were experienced women who had learned their knowledge in practice and passed it on to the next generation
The vision and mission of an extraordinary museum.
Our vision is clear.
Museum The Village Doctor aims to become an attractive and contemporary museum where the history of healthcare comes to life.
We aim for a recognisable and distinctive position within the Dutch museum landscape: a place where visitors of all ages experience the story of the Village Doctor in an accessible and challenging way.
Our mission realistic.
We collect, preserve and manage medical objects that we present in various ways to tell the story of the Village Doctor.
Through education, changing exhibitions, digital innovation and collaboration with other cultural partners, we bring the history of healthcare to life and keep up with the times.
