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Where was The Miniaturist Filmed?
The Miniaturist filming locations revealed
Set in the Netherlands in the 17th century, a woman who finds herself in a loveless arranged marriage is given a mysterious doll’s house to distract her from the comings and goings in the house.
Filming this lavish and haunting drama was a challenge. The crew needed to recreate the Amsterdam of hundreds of years ago. Now it is a busy, neon-lit city. While some of the filming was completed in the Netherlands, a few UK locations were also used.
Find out more about where The Miniaturist was filmed below.
Langleybury House, a grand estate in Hertfordshire’s sprawling green countryside, was used for filming many of the interiors of the Amsterdam home where Nella Oortman lives after her marriage. The estate was built in the 18th century but the crew added furnishings and interiors from the correct period to make it historically accurate.
When the characters attend the lavish Silversmiths Ball, Tallow Chandlers Hall was the perfect party venue. The hall is owned by one of London’s ancient livery companies, manufacturers of candles and oil products. The building was partially destroyed in WWII but has been sympathetically rebuilt. With dark wooden panels and ornate décor, the hall didn’t need much dressing up for the ball. Appropriately, it was lit by candlelight to add authenticity to the scene. Tallow Chandlers Hall is available to hire for your own events, should you feel like putting on your best 17th-century garb and throwing a theme party.
Amsterdam’s oldest building, Oude Kerk, features in The Miniaturist but, because it’s set in a busy modern city, the crew thought filming there would be too challenging. Luckily, Pieterskerk, a Gothic Dutch church in Leiden, less than an hour from Amsterdam, provided the perfect substitute. Pieterskerk has many similar features like vaulted ceilings and gold trim. You will spot it in the scenes where Nella and Marin attend church.
Leiden also provides an alternative for Amsterdam’s famous canals. Along the canals of Amsterdam, there are buildings from various eras as well as shops and restaurants that would spoil the historic ambience. By moving production to Leiden, the crew were able to create more of a 17th-century look, without needing time travel.
The exterior of Nella’s home is along Leiden’s canals on Rapenburg. It was the ancestral home of the Van Leyden van Leeuwen family in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was built in a beautiful Dutch baroque style with large windows and ornate mouldings. The home was even fit for royalty and was briefly rented to William I of the Netherlands before becoming a school. Currently, parts of the building are used for functions. A variety of ideas are being floated for its future use, from turning it into a luxury hotel to creating an art museum.