The city's historical centre, in a fine seventeenth-century building near the Oldehove, holds Leeuwarden's municipal archives and a small permanent exhibition on the city's history. The displays are arranged chronologically — medieval origins, the prosperity of the seventeenth-century Frisian stadtholders, the industrial nineteenth century, twentieth-century reinvention — and provide context that the better-known museums in town do not always give.
Entry is free. The shop sells a useful illustrated city walking guide, and the staff are generous with tips.