Centraal Museum

The museum's collection features the 'Utrecht Ship', a one-thousand-year-old vessel discovered in 1930 near the Van Hoornekade, which is a key part of the city history collection. Other major holdings include the Van Baaren Collection, a core group of nineteenth and early twentieth-century visual arts, and the Dick Bruna Collection, which contains thousands of designs, drawings, and posters related to the creator of Miffy. The museum also houses the Provincial Utrecht Society of Arts and Sciences' archaeological collection of approximately 15,000 Roman and medieval objects.

The Centraal Museum is home to the largest Rietveld collection in the world, consisting of more than 250 furnishings, objects, mock-ups, and scale models. It also manages the Rietveld Schröder Archive, which contains 2,000 drawings, 2,000 images, 3,800 letters, and extensive documentation compiled by Truus Schröder. The museum is responsible for the management and preservation of the Rietveld Schröder House, which was transferred to its care after a large-scale restoration and first opened to the public in 1987.

As the oldest municipal museum in the Netherlands, the Centraal Museum plays a vital role in preserving the local and international artistic heritage of Utrecht. Its unique combination of city history, fine art, fashion, and design, alongside its stewardship of the Rietveld Schröder House and Archive, makes it a leading institution for De Stijl and modernist design. The museum's ability to blend historical artifacts with contemporary design in its 'Collection Centraal' exhibitions underscores its ongoing relevance.