The Friends Lottery is the cultural lottery of the Netherlands. Nearly 600,000 Dutch people participate. They have a chance to win prizes and, by participating, simultaneously support all forms of culture in the Netherlands: from windmills to concerts and from festivals to museums.
About The Friends Lottery
Thanks to its participants, the Friends Lottery can contribute to culture in the Netherlands. Two-thirds of the annual grant goes to museums, windmills, and monuments, such as the Rijksmuseum, the Hermitage Amsterdam, the Dutch Windmill Association, and the Fries Museum. One-third goes to organizations like the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, which in turn support the performing arts, visual arts, festivals, cultural projects, and concerts.
Every year, the Mauritshuis, along with the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, receives a generous contribution to our acquisition fund. This amount allows us to purchase new paintings for our collection.
But the Friends Lottery provides more than just support for acquiring new collection items. In 2011, for example, the Friends Lottery donated an additional €2.6 million for the construction and renovation project Mauritshuis Builds for the Future. In 2014, another €660,000 was added for our reopening. In 2019, the Friends Lottery made a wonderful contribution to the Rembrandt Year.
VIP Card
Do you play the Friends Lottery (formerly BankGiro Lottery)? Then you will receive a Friends Lottery VIP CARD. This card gives you free admission to many museums. You can also visit the Mauritshuis for free. Please note: don't forget to book a (free) time slot with your card.
Curious about the other benefits of the VIP CARD? Visit vriendenloterij.nl/vipkaart.
Museum Murals
On the initiative of the Mauritshuis, a very special street art project was launched in 2024: Museum Murals, made possible by the participants of the Friends Lottery.
On 20 walls throughout the Netherlands, 20 street artists are creating new life-size works of art, inspired by a painting, object or story from the collections of 20 different museums. From Texel to Heerlen and from Groningen to Ouwerkerk, in the middle of a residential area, on an old factory wall or along the railway tracks: the Museum Murals ensure that art is accessible to everyone and make the whole of the Netherlands a little bit more beautiful.
