Museumkelder Derlon

Derlon Hotel Museum Cellar

Useful Information

Location:	Derlon Hotel, Onze Lieve Vrouweplein 6, 6211 HD Maastricht (50.847778, 5.693339)
Open:	After breakfast no restrictions. [2022]
Fee:	free. [2022]
Classification:
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Derlon Hotel, Onze Lieve Vrouweplein 6, 6211 HD Maastricht, Tel: +31-43-321-6770, Fax: +31-43-325-19-33. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1870	Derlon Hotel opened.

Description

The Museumkelder Derlon (Museum Cellar Derlon Hotel) is simply the basement of the Derlon Hotel, it becomes a museum by the archaeological excavations which were made here, and were preserved as a sort of exhibition. Derlon Hotel Maastricht is located in the historic center of Maastricht, a four-star hotel on Onze-Lieve-Vrouwenplein square with 50 guest rooms. The cellar is the breakfast room, so as a guest you will enjoy breakfast with a view of the archaeological remains. At this time non-guest are not allowed, but from 11 on workdays and 12 on the weekend, the cellar is freely accessible.

There are probably a dozen tourist sites around Maastricht, which are all underground cellars as a result of limestone mining. This one is different, it is a normal historic cellar build under a house for storing goods, primarily food, beer, and wine. The specialty of this cellar is actually the fact that it was built on top of the basements of older buildings, back to the Roman era, which were excavated some time ago. The part of the cellar with the basements is separated by a railing and the walls were preserved to avoid further damages. Several artefacts which were discovered here are also on display. The nine rocks with Roman inscriptions from the 1st to the 5th century have been declared Rijksmonument (National Monument of the Netherlands).

The Hotel was founded by the French chef cook Louis Désiré Derlon (*1827-✝1902). Originally he only operated a restaurant here, which later became the Hotel. To his honour the Restaurant Derlon and the Louis Brasserie were named.