Presentation § 6

Like many museums, the Pijpenkabinet was founded as a private collection. In 1969 the Amsterdam collector Don Duco brought together his first pipes of archaeological origin, discovered during renovation work in Amsterdam. This formed the base of the museum and inspired the founder to start historical research. These pipe finds led to a profound study on the production of clay pipes in Western Europe, in which field Duco has taken the lead in various themes.

From 1975 to 1982 the collection was on view on the Amsterdam Frederiksplein, in the back of an antique and modern art gallery. The focus of that time was clay tobacco pipes and an exhibition of over 400 items gave an impression of the variety of historic pipes used in West-Europe. From the Pijpenkamer a network for collectors was started, including the medium Pijpelijntjes, the first magazine specialized on clay tobacco pipes.

In 1982 the collection moved to Leiden, to be housed in the boardroom of one of the city's almshouses called Hof Meermansburg. This stately home offered a suitable environment for the ever growing collection. The Pijpenkabinet was housed here till 1995 and functioned as public museum. Since its inception the collection has been ever-expanding with continuous acquisitions accounting over 27,500 items at the present time.

The base of the former archaeological collection gradually evolved to feature more examples of the cultural history of smoking as acquisitions progressed. Thereafter, the collection expanded exponentially from Dutch to Global interest. This meant that pipes of all materials from different sources in the world were added. These included historic pieces, folk art items and ethnographic pipes.

In 1995 the foundation decided to move with its collections to Amsterdam, along one of the four great canals that form the centre of this vibrant city. It is to be found along the Prinsengracht, between the Leidseplein and the National Museum (Rijksmuseum). Since that date the museum is housed in a typical Amsterdam canal house.