While visiting Holland, my and I had the opportunity to visit an incredible museum in the region of Zaandam.
Located on the Zaanse Schans, the museum will capture your attention from the first moment you lay your eyes on it. We were impressed by the building itself, before even going inside to visit the present exhibitions. We shortly found out that this modern building, with an industrial appearance, was specially built to house the museum, while preserving the unique historical aspect of the Zaans area. You see, back in the 17th century, this locality was famous for its impressive factories with numerous innovations taking place shaping this region into a very important industrial hub of Holland.
Before starting the tour of this museum, we expected to see just another museum like many other we’ve seen before, with static exhibitions that never change in time. Well, we were surprised to see that the Zaans Museum does things very differently. It has permanent but also temporary exhibitions. Something eventful is always going on here and there is a constant opportunity to see new and interesting things. To start with, there are gorgeous Dutch landscapes paintings depicting its glorious past that are worth contemplating. Truly, the Zaans Museum brilliantly shows the pure and unspoiled beauty of Holland. Regional costumes and artifacts from its remarkable industrial time can also be seen, providing a great slice of Dutch history and a glimpse of how the area looked a few centuries ago.
We didn’t expect the following part of the museum, but such a delicious incursion was more than welcome. I was delighted to discover the Verkade Pavilion, a section of the museum that recreates a chocolate and biscuits factory from the 20th century, where real machines that worked back then are still working in present days as well. Besides this, you will see a short history of the Verkade products and history of this family business. Also, you will learn how this famous chocolate was made, with the help of the authentic machines that produced chocolate in the Verkade factory in the 1930’s. It can be a mouth-watering experience, especially if you are a chocolate fan like me, but totally worth it!
The Coppery is another interesting section of the museum, being the surviving remains of a famous cooperage in Holland left behind in 1999 by the last copper of the area, Jaap Tiemstra. The business was started in 1919 by his father, having its main purpose to be the manufacturing of containers for drinks and storing herrings.
Over and above, if you find yourself at the top floor of the Zaans Museum, you get to enjoy one more treat. Perceive with your own eyes the gorgeous fields of Zaanse Schans with the few remaining windmills that still work even today that continues to preserve the uniqueness of the region. We simply loved going back in time with the Zaans Museum. We strongly recommend a visit if you are in Amsterdam because it is a true heritage site of Holland that needs to be seen in all its real-life glory.
Thanks to Zaans Museum | Schansend 7, 1509 AW Zaandam, Netherlands | +31 75 681 0000
