English
In the 90s, the controversial American feminist Camille Plagia wrote a book on the great Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, in which she made special and compelling Freudian emphasis about the importance of Melanie Daniels, the main character played by Tippi Hedren, never being separated from her purse and even holding onto it firmly, as if it were the only anchor capable of preventing the collapse of that artwork known as the identity which is presented to the world and most particularly to the world of men. In fact, the one time she does lose her handbag the consequences are formidable.
Indeed, perhaps there are few things as suggestive, polysemous and ductile as handbags, which is the subject of devotion at the curious and interesting Tassen Hendrikje Museum of Amsterdam (http://www.museumofbagsandpurses.com/). It has beautiful rooms in an amazing seventeenth-century building and is home to the largest collection of handbags in the world, totaling over 4000 handbags, bags, purses, trunks, suitcases, backpacks, suitcases, boxes and other accessories from all time periods from the Middle Ages onwards.
In addition to their impressive permanent collection, whose distinguishing mark is the attention paid to the bag in all its variety of forms, functions and materials, the museum also organizes permanent exhibitions of both national and international handbag designers, in line with their interest in the degree to which the various designs have always changed the fashion and lifestyle of each society.
This alone would make a visit to this museum worthwhile, but there’s also the elegant historic building where they display the pieces. It boasts magnificent painted ceiling rooms, exquisite decoration and chimneys from the 17th and 18th centuries. Located in this charming setting, the museum cafe, where you can also hold private parties for birthdays and children´s parties as well as enjoy a good cup of tea and a wide variety of food both sweet or savory, is particularly memorable. As is its splendid courtyard garden, where time seems to stop momentarily.
It all started 16 years ago, when Dutch Hebndrikje Ivo developed her passion for collecting bags, something she continued for nearly four decades. She found a suitable place for public display in the large vacant space previously devoted to offices of the family home of her husband in Amstelveen, who became responsible for the technical direction of such a unique property.
