The Zuiderzee Museum

The Zuiderzee was a shallow inland sea open to the North Sea, and the towns around it lived on herring, anchovy and eel. In 1932 the Afsluitdijk closed it off, the water turned fresh within a few years and the fishing economy went with it. The museum answered that by moving whole streets here: something like a hundred and thirty houses, sheds, shops, a church and a lime kiln, taken from towns around the old coast and rebuilt on the water at Enkhuizen. Staff smoke fish in the smokehouse, spin rope in the ropewalk and tar nets. An indoor hall holds the wooden boats themselves.

History

The idea came from an exhibition held around 1930 in the park along the sea wall at Enkhuizen, with cardboard houses and costumed locals from around the Zuiderzee. The first exhibition opened in the Drommedaris, the 16th-century harbour tower, in the summer of 1949, the indoor museum opened on 1 July 1950, and Queen Beatrix opened the outdoor museum on 6 May 1983, on ground used until 1970 as a store for the Zuiderzee Works (Wikipedia, Zuiderzee Museum).

The main sights

• The relocated village - streets of dark timber houses brought here from around the old sea.
• The boat hall - flat-bottomed Zuiderzee craft under one roof, with their rigging.
• The smokehouse - herring and eel smoked over wood, and sold at the counter.
• The regional dress - the costume collection, village by village, and how sharply it varied.

When to go

The outdoor village runs through the warm season, roughly April to October, and shuts for winter, when only the indoor museum stays open. Wind comes straight off the IJsselmeer even in July, so bring a layer more than you think. Arrive early: the ferry crossing and the walk out to the far end both eat time.

Before you go

Winter visitors get the indoor half only, which is a fraction of the point. The site is exposed and there is no quick way back once you are at the far end. Not every house is staffed outside peak weeks, so some streets are just facades. The costumed interpretation is well done but staged, and the ferry adds twenty minutes each way.

Nearby

Enkhuizen's old harbour is a short walk; Hoorn is twenty minutes down the line.

Key facts