Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) was one of the most important scholars in Dutch and Indonesian history and a key figure in the colonial administration of the Dutch East Indies. In his own time, he was greatly admired for his knowledge and work but ultimately also criticised for his increasingly progressive ideas. After his death, he was honoured by his former students. Around 1980, however, his life was portrayed in a different light. Some began to see him as a spy who converted to Islam to gain the trust of informers and had subsequently laid the basis for a moral justification for the bloody Aceh War.

It’s now time for a more nuanced assessment of Snouck's life and work. Whatever the case, he was a brilliant student and a courageous and groundbreaking scholar, founder of modern Islamic scholarship and author of impressive books. He was supported and cared for during his life by his mother, his sister Jacqueline and his three wives. Snouck was an expert on the Arab, Sundanese, Javanese and Aceh societies of his time and had long been a confirmed imperialist because he thought colonial rule would bring good things. He was also the architect of Dutch Islamic policy in the Dutch East Indies, which held that the

government should interfere with religion as little as possible and that officials should try to understand the religion of most Indonesians.

Snouck was also a man who did not feel at home in the colonial society of Batavia and Weltevreden, but who thrived when he could go out on expeditions with the colonial army. He enjoyed his life with his Sundanese wives Sangkana and Buah.

But he was also a man who had absolutely no patience for amateurism, opportunism or the half-hearted efforts of others, including his students and PhD students. He was someone who sometimes had unpredictable mood swings, partly caused by his physical discomfort. He could hurt and alienate people through his severity and stubbornness and was uncompromising in his fight against injustices and, in his eyes, incorrect beliefs.

Snouck lived a rich life, fragments of which are featured in this exhibition.