Multatuli House

Everything you want to know about Multatuli

The Multatuli Huis is located in the birthplace of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), who wrote his most famous book Max Havelaar, or the coffee auctions of the Dutch trading company (1860) under the pseudonym 'Multatuli'. Max Havelaar is considered the most important 'whistleblower' novel in Dutch literary history, and fits into a broader literary movement of writers in the 19th century who spoke out against injustice.

Multatuli's personal belongings, utensils and special examples from his oeuvre are on display in various rooms of the museum. In the style room it is as if the writer could walk in at any moment to pick up the pen again.

The visitor is given a guided tour by a volunteer and is taken through the history of Indonesia at the time of Multatuli's stay, and is also introduced to the beautiful, tragic and contradictory personal life of Dekker.

The house/museum also has a workplace for people who are researching Multatuli.

Accessibility

The Multatuli Museum is housed in a small 17th century national monument in the Korsjespoortsteeg. It is poorly or almost not accessible for visitors with a motor physical disability. The style room, in which Multatuli's personal belongings are displayed, is only accessible via a narrow and steep spiral staircase, also almost not accessible for the motorically impaired. Furthermore, there are no special facilities for the blind and partially sighted or for the deaf and hard of hearing.