Reflections 2025
Explore Maastricht

Explore Maastricht also brought the past and present of the city and region to life in 2025. With tours, exhibitions, educational programmes and strategic collaborations, we made heritage accessible, topical and meaningful for residents, visitors and partners. We did this based on the central idea: what you experience, you appreciate; and what you appreciate, you want to preserve.

In 2025, we intensified cooperation with Het Limburgs Landschap. After one and a half years of preparation, the first guided tours under the Explore Maastricht banner officially started in February 2025 in the former NATO headquarters in the Cannerberg. A special place where Cold War history becomes tangible. The number of visitors grew from 3,000 in 2024 to 12,500 in 2025. In July, this cooperation was expanded with the opening of the Bronsdal quarry in Geulhem. This opened up another hidden chapter of Limburg's underground landscape to the public. The museum collections, the preservation of both monuments and the further development of the experience are secured through two (furnishing) committees consisting of the association Former NATO Headquarters, (heritage) advisors from Het Limburgs Landschap, Explore Maastricht and other partners involved.

Special tours and exhibitions

In 2025, Explore Maastricht provided guided tours during Heritage Unlocked and TEFAF 2025, among other events. We also celebrated 555 years of the Dinghuis with a mini-exhibition that included Pieke Dassen's puppets, complemented by a theatre performance by Ruben Komkommer. In the caponniere of Fort Sint Pieter, the permanent exhibition about the caves and the Fort is open to the public free of charge. Thus, these iconic places remain part of the daily city story.

Explore Maastricht explicitly invests in education and knowledge sharing. In cooperation with the Natural History Museum Maastricht, we developed a unique educational experience for primary and secondary school pupils. This is how we make natural history and geology visible, understandable and relevant for a new generation. In addition, the Roman museum cellar in Hotel Derlon was opened to the public free of charge every Sunday afternoon, in cooperation with the Municipality of Maastricht and Hotel Derlon.

Our guides deepened their knowledge through partner visits to, among others, the ENCI quarry (Natuurmonumenten), the flint mine in Rijckholt, the Pelgrimage exhibition in Maastricht Museum and the Treasury of Our Lady's Basilica. This depth of content enhances the quality of our tours.

80 years of liberation

From September 2024 to mid-May 2025, Maastricht marked 80 years of liberation. Together with the working group Schuilen in Maastricht..., heritage partners, volunteers and many inhabitants of Maastricht, Explore Maastricht programme a multifaceted year of commemoration. The programme included casemate cabaret, guided tours, lectures and exhibitions. Finally, in the Dinghuis, we organised the mini-exhibition 80 years cherished - the liberation of Maastricht in souvenirs. For three weeks, over 3,500 people visited this free exhibition, including many Maastricht residents and visitors from home and abroad. The guestbook filled up with memories and expressions of gratitude. People spontaneously sang, danced, recited poems and shed many a tear. Here, heritage became a living and shared story.

Explore Maastricht fulfils not only an executive, but also an advisory role within the heritage field. In 2025, we were:

(Regional) partner in the future programming of the new Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht
Member of the advisory board of VIA VIA
Board member of the RRB Foundation (Regeling Recreatief Berglopen)
Participant in the municipal fortress consultations
Participant furnishing committee Bronsdal Quarry and former NATO Headquarters
Sparring partner for Natuurmonumenten Mount Saint Peter

We also cooperated with the Historical Centre Limburg, Maastricht University (KEC), the Province House, the Saint Servatius Basilica and Maastricht City Hall. Explore Maastricht also facilitated research by Wageningen University & Research's Cultural Geography Group and supervised assignments for the Fontys Teacher Training Programme. Great connections between practice, policy and science.

'Art hidden in wartime'

School TV - EenVandaag in de klas

Visit
'The dust is falling'

Docuseries NPO

Visit
'Waging war underground in the Kazemats in Maastricht'

You Know That Again

Visit
'Discovering Maastricht's Hidden History, Underground'

The New York Times

Visit

And more:

We inspired the front-office staff of Hotel van Oys and Design Hotel by taking them on a tour of Maastricht
We gave a free tour for Quiet Community
we collaborated on the graduation project and film by Jonas van der Molen of St. Joost School of Art & Design
we achieved 9th place in the DagjeWeg.NL Awards 2025 - Limburg with the guided tour of the Mount Saint Peter caves
were the caves and Official Maastricht Guide Ernest featured in the episode Ill of Flikken Maastricht (around 100,000 viewers)
We made underground heritage visible editorially via Forten.nl and the Fletcher Liberation Route
We participated in the Postcode Lottery
Studio 100 secretly shot footage in the Kazematten for the cinema film Night Watch - The Crystal of Evil
we contributed to the realisation of the book The Breath of the Mountain, a tribute to Jan Spee by author Sven Gerhardt
the display cases in the shelter of the WWII & Cold War Museum were renovated
The panels of the exhibition in the Kluis in Mount Saint Peter have been replaced