uncovering haarlem’s history€¦ · from 09:00-16:00 from april to october, packed with 20th...

THE NETHERLANDSTHE NETHERLANDS

It’s on the wall of a converted attic B&B, above El Pincho tapas restaurant, that I find the best summary of Haarlem: ‘The river curvaceous/ And canals deserted/ The city feels like a blanket’. These words are part of

a mural lovingly created by the owners who, like other Haarlem residents, are proud of their quiet but cultured city, with much of its architecture preserved, and world-class exhibits in its museums and galleries. This mini Amsterdam minus the crowds is little-known by international tourists, who follow the herd to the bright lights of the capital or the widely-praised pottery in Delft. They have no idea what they’re missing out on.

Take Haarlem’s hofjes, or almshouses: each is a little oasis of calm. I met few other people as I walked through, and it felt like I’d stepped back in time. Though privately occupied, most hofjes can be visited, or at least seen from the street.

The city archive is based next to one of the oldest hofjes, as I learned from Wouter Schelfhout, a city guide since the 1990s. He also took me to the most modern hofje, a wood-clad

contemporary development in stark contrast to its centuries-old counterparts. Though Haarlemers aren’t afraid of modernity, they’ve preserved the past with quiet pride.

Remembering the Siege of HaarlemFor eight months, from October 1752 to July 1753, Haarlem held out against Spanish invaders and bore the brunt of their force. Tactically speaking, the Spanish focus on Haarlem allowed other Dutch towns and cities to regroup and strengthen their defences during the Eighty Years’ War.

Find the siege memorial on Stationsplein square, in front of the train station and the bus depot. It depicts city governor Wigbolt Ripperda with Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer, an aristocratic widow who supplied wood and fighting women to the cause.

Building on this history, the Dutch slang word kenau initially meant bravery and toughness, but evolved to become derogatory, similar to ‘bitch’. Historians from 1872 onwards have questioned Hasselaer’s role, arguing there isn’t enough

Top: Visitors to the Frans Hal Museum

Left: City Tour Guide Wouter Schelfhout

Above: Hannie Schaft Statue

All images: © Polly Allen unless otherwise stated

Polly Allen visits Haarlem, and finds the quiet counterpart to Amsterdam full of culture, period architecture and

world class museums and galleries

Uncovering Haarlem’s History

70 Timeless Travels • Winter 2018 Timeless Travels • Winter 2018 71


evidence to prove she fought. Whatever her truth, women and children did help defend the city, but were rarely praised; I’m grateful to see at least one remembered.

The 14th century Grote Bavokerk, Haarlem’s most important church, holds evidence of the siege: a cannonball imbedded in one wall, and a memorial behind the altar which mentions eating cats, dogs and mice when starvation took hold - apologies to vegetarians and vegans, but it’s fascinating stuff. When the Spanish took Haarlem, their revenge was harrowing: Dutchmen were tied back-to-back and thrown into the River Spaarne to drown. A ‘Tied Men’ statue on the riverside remembers the horror.

Haarlem’s Golden AgeThe Golden Age really was a golden time for Haarlem: merchants prospered; artists flourished with new techniques for more realistic portraiture, dramatic landscapes and dark still life paintings;

The Golden Age really was a golden time for Haarlem: merchants prospered; artists

flourished with new techniques for more realistic portraiture; the city was at its most powerful

worldwide for his dark and expressive paintings such as The Laughing Cavalier (1624). He spent most of his life in Haarlem and is buried in the Grote Bavokerk. Whilst his work would draw art-loving crowds on its own, the dual-site Frans Hals Museum commissioned contemporary artists to respond to his paintings and hung the works together for the exhibition Rendezvous with Frans Hals, which I caught during my visit. This dynamic approach breathed new life into Hals’ style, provoked debate amongst visitors and attracted a younger crowd, drawn to oil paintings by Kerry James Marshall. I particularly loved a tongue-in-cheek series of film trailers, Where is Rocky II?, by Pierre Bismuth, attempting to uncover the location of a lost Ed Ruscha installation in the unforgiving Mojave desert.

This autumn’s exhibition, Frans Hals and the Moderns (18 October 2018 – 10 February 2019) covers some of the world’s most famous artists who cited Hals as their inspiration: Manet, Singer Sargent and van Gogh.

WWII HaarlemThe Netherlands suffered bitterly in WWII under Nazi rule from 1940-1945: it’s no urban myth that starving Dutch people resorted to eating tulip bulbs as food shortages intensified. Haarlem had a huge Resistance network, in which one family, the ten Booms, played a major part. On paper they were unlikely to arouse suspicion: Caspar ten Boom, the devoutly Christian owner of a watchmaking shop in the city centre, and his two spinster daughters in their early 50s, Corrie and Betsie, plus other

Above: View of Haarlem Sint-Bavokerk from the south (Turfmarkt), looking over the Spaarne river

Top right: Exterior of the Frans Hal Museum

Right: Sections of 'Portrait No. 524-531' by Anton Henning at the Frans Hal Museum

the city was at its most powerful. Tulip Mania had struck the whole of the Netherlands, with the economy boosted by exorbitant trade prices for tulip bulbs, and Haarlem wasn’t exempt. Golden Age artists like Frans Hals and Judith Leyster, one of the few women to be admitted to Haarlem’s Guild of St. Luke, often painted tulip merchants and collectors. Walking down the street where Leyster once lived, or past the same Vleeshal (meat hall) that Hals saw, now part of a museum named after him, brought me closer to their world.

Hals is Haarlem’s most famous son, known

Top left: Hofje van Bakenes

Far left: The statue of Wigbolt Ripperda with Kenau Simonsdochter

Hasselaer on Stationsplein by

sculptor Graziella Curreli

Left: Laurens Coster statue with Bavokerk

behind

Imag

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Jane

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72 Timeless Travels • Winter 2018 Timeless Travels • Winter 2018 73Timeless Travels • Autumn 2018 72


children nearby. Above the shop, the ten Booms hid 800 Jewish people between 1942-1944, passing most onto other Resistance members when it was safe to move, but four Jews were hidden in a specially constructed ‘Hiding Place’ in Corrie’s bedroom. By day, they roamed the house, kept safe by an alarm system installed by the Resistance network to warn of unexpected visitors.

A Dutch collaborator reporting to the Nazis betrayed the ten Booms in 1944; they were sent to prison, where Caspar died and Corrie was placed in solitary confinement. From there, Corrie and Betsie endured another prison and then the Ravensbrück concentration camp,where Betsie died. Fortunately, the four Jewish people survived, having fled 72 hours after the Nazi raid.

Corrie’s book of her family’s Resistance efforts, The Hiding Place, touched readers around the world, and put the ten Boom house firmly on the map for many visitors – myself included - since the museum opened in 1988. Be warned: entry is free, but by group tours only, pre-booked at least five days in advance. The Hiding Place has been faithfully recreated and seeing its scale brings home the desperation of those hidden here.

Hannie Schaft was another Resistance member who made her mark, known as ‘the girl with the red hair’. Schaft supplied her many Jewish friends with false ID cards, and she carried out attacks on Nazis and Dutch collaborators, making her a major target. Executed just three weeks before the end of the war, aged just 24, Schaft’s defiant last words to her bumbling executioners were: “I could shoot better.” I recommend visiting her statue in Kenaupark, a short walk from the station, followed by a calm riverside walk to the city centre.

Whatever your historical focus, or your cultural interest, Haarlem has you covered, but with less crowds and noise than its more publicised rival cities. As the saying goes, it’s always the quiet ones…

• A.J. van der Pigge pharmacy (Gierstraat 3) was established in 1849 and it sells the mysterious Haarlem Miracle Oil, created in 1896, said to cure all manner of ills.

• The Botermarkt (Butter Market) hosts a flea market every Wednesday from 09:00-16:00 from April to October, packed with 20th century homeware gems, like vintage cocoa tins, 1970s furniture and old children’s books.

• H. de Vries Boeken (Gedempte Oude Gracht 27) is a bookshop with a royal warrant, literally built into the city’s

oldest walls, and serving locals since 1905. For second-hand books, try Antiquariaat Hovingh (Kleine Houtstraat 50).

• Het Dolhuys (Schotersingel 2) is a site-specific psychiatry museum, formerly Haarlem’s ‘madhouse’ and leper colony, now devoted to a sensitively-depicted study of mental health treatment through the ages, from Galen’s ‘four humours’ theory of health to anti-depressants.

• Spot the Laurens Janszoon Coster statue in the Grote Markt,

remembering the rumoured inventor of printing. History lauds Gutenberg, but Haarlemmers celebrate Coster.

• The Teylers Museum (Spaarne 16) is the Netherlands’ oldest museum, founded 1784, to cover science and natural history. The building, complete with beautiful Oval Room, is as interesting as its contents.

• Look out for the preserved Vischhandel (Fish Shop) façade and interior of In Den Uiver bar (Riviervismarkt 13).

Other Historic Haarlem Sights

Left, top left: Haarlem street sign

Left, top right: The clock sign that would be placed in the window of ten Boom house to give the all clear

Left, middle: Riverside view

Left, bottom: Haarlem housefront

Above, clockwise from top left: The flea market held at the Botermarket every Wednesday; The Het Dolhuys Museum; A Hygrometer at the Teylers Museum; The Oval Room at the Teylers Museum; Beer tasting at the Jopenkerk and The Vischhandel shopfront



Travel tips for visiting Haarlem, the Netherlands

The EssentialsTime difference: GMT + 1

Language: The Netherland’s official language is Dutch but English is widely spoken.

Culture: The Dutch culture is very diverse and tolerant.

Electrical current/ plugs: 220 AC volts. Plugs are rounded two-pronged variety.

Religion: The Netherlands is one of the most secular countries in Western Europe with only 39% being religiously affiliated.

Water: Tap water in the Netherlands is safe to drink and is stated as some of the best water in the world, although bottled water is readily available.

Politics: The Netherlands has constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy and decentralized unitary system. The king is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government.

Money

Currency: The currency in the Netherlands is the Euro (EUR; symbol €) = 100 cents. Notes are in denominations of €500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. Coins are in denominations of €2 and 1, and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 cents.

Credit cards: Major international credit cards such as MasterCard, American Express, Cirrus, Maestro and Visa are widely accepted but not everywhere. It is recommended to have some cash with you.

ATMs are available all over the city.

Flying

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is served

by many international airlines. There

are direct flights from several European

cities and from all continents except

Australia. Air France, Delta and KLM link

Canada to Amsterdam. Those airlines

also have direct flights from the US

to Amsterdam, as well as American,

British and United Airlines. Check

www.schiphol.nl for all airlines and

destinations.

The best way to reach Haarlem is via

Amsterdam – either by bus (30-40

minutes) or train (20-30 minutes with

one change) after flying to Schipol

Airport, or use Eurostar’s new London-

Amsterdam route and catch a train

from Centraal Station (15 minutes).

Visas

Visas are not currently required for

citizens of the EU/EEA/Switzerland,

and those from Canada, Australia,

New Zealand, the US and some

other countries do not need a visa if

visiting for less than 90 days. For more

information check www.government.nl on all countries.

Getting around

Haarlem is a walkable city: you can

see all the main sights on foot, but

buses are widely available. Bike hire is

recommended for confident cyclists

only. Boat trips along the canal are a

sedate alternative. For more advice, see

visitholland.com

Weather

The weather is milder between April

and October and most visit during

summer when the weather is warm. If

you want to see the Netherlands when

it is less crowded, plan your trip in

April-May or September-October.

Holidays

(In 2018): January 1 (New Year’s Day), April

1 (Easter Sunday), April 2 (Easter Monday),

April 27 (King’s Birthday), May 4 (National

Remembrance Day), May 5 (Liberation

Day), May 10 (Ascension Day), May 20

(Pentecost Sunday), May 21 (Pentecost

Monday), November 4 (All Saints Day).

December 25 (Christmas Day), December

26 (St Stephens Day).

i Useful information

Discover Haarlem’s rich brewing legacy at

the Jopenkerk (Gedempte Voldersgracht 2),

a former church turned Jopen BV brewery,

bar and restaurant. Jopen launched in the

1990s as a project to celebrate the city’s

750th anniversary; by the 14th century,

Haarlem was a major brewing city, and

beer was transported down the River

Spaarne in 112-litre barrels known as ‘jopen’.

The first two Jopen BV beers were based

on Haarlem recipes from the 15th and 16th

century.

Check into Hotel Lion d’Or, a slick and

recently refurbished hotel on the edge of

Stationsplein which dates back to 1839 and

is a 10-minute walk from the Grote Markt.

NETHERLANDSGERMANY

BELGIUM

Amsterdam

Europoort

Breda

Eindhoven

The Hague

Maastricht

Zwolle

Leeuwarden

Assen


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