October: Month of History!

October is the Month of History! In 2025, the theme is Naturally. For this reason, Maastricht Museum is placing the emphasis on natural materials, with a special focus on clay; in other words, ceramics.

Centre Céramique
We are named after the earthenware factory Société Céramique, of which you can still see remnants in the Céramique district. As Maastricht Museum, we have a great deal to offer, but our ceramics collection consistently attracts international attention and rightly so!

Ceramics form an important common thread throughout the Maastricht Museum, from the oldest pottery objects of the Linear Bandkeramik culture to the Sphinx, Mosa and Société Céramique factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

We have now expanded this seven-thousand-year ceramic history even further, with decorated Iron Age sherds from Randwyck, various ceramic forms from the Frankish period found at the Basilica of Saint Servatius, late medieval cooking pots from the Veerlinxstraat, Bartmann jugs, and much more.

In many cultures, humankind is created from clay. Humans are mouldable and shaped, yet also fragile, like a ceramic pot. Discover how Prometheus, the Greek god who “shaped humanity from clay”, changed from a devil into a hero after the Middle Ages.

Pieter Stockmans
And of course, our exhibition on Pieter Stockmans. From 1966 to 1989 he was an industrial designer at the Royal Mosa porcelain factory in Maastricht. Through his work, fired clay became more than just a functional material after seven thousand years: ceramics became art.

Kleio
Especially for our younger visitors, Maastricht Museum has created a treasure hunt. Help Kleio complete all the assignments throughout the museum and receive a fun reward!

Come and have a look, we’re curious to hear what you think.