Openlucht Museum in Arnhem

Sarah Straub Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:45 pm

Hey!
Probably, you have never heard of the Openlucht Museum in Arnhem before, and that really wouldn't be a shame, because I don't know anybody who has every heard of it. Well, neither have I, until today! The mother of my boyfriend, she's lovely, by the way, suggested to go there with the two of us, since I'm staying at her house at the moment (holidays, jippie) and the male part of our ‘family’ is not at home (Hub, her husband, works in Iran, and Jaap, my boyfriend, currently studies in Brussels). Anyway, I was a bit sceptical in the beginning, because the description of the Openlucht museum seemed a bit strang. To me, it sounded a bit like some sort of theme park for children... But I had nothing else to do (except writing that paper for university, but that was really NOT what I wanted to do..), so I agreed.
And indeed, you might actually call it a theme park, but not only for children, but for anyone who is slightly interested in (Dutch) history, being outside, and walking around for a few hours… I personally am not particularly interested in history, but I do like being outside and walking around… The Openlucht museum is some kind of village with houses, farms, and factories from the 16., 17., 18. and 19. century, rebuilt as well as possible. You actually walk around and enter every building you see, from huge mansions with even bigger barns to dirt-houses that are so small, that you barely are able to enter. ‘Dirt-house’ is, by the way, not exaggerated! They used mud and peat to build their houses. ‘They’ were people who worked at the near-by factory that produced cheese and butter. These days, this was one of the worst-paid jobs of all, and therefore, men often had to work as ‘day laborers’ too.
Besides the houses, there were two factories. As mentioned before, the cheese and butter factory, and a beer factory. We had quite a funny talk (and a beer, of course) with some of the men who work there (and they actually still produce beer!) and the guy wouldn’t stop talking anymore… Eventually, I said that I would like to buy a bottle, so that he would stop, haha. In the end we walked up a ‘molen’ (a mill) and enjoyed the nice view!
Despite the fact that I am very tired from walking outside for so many hours, it was a great day and a valuable experience! Until now, I have visited many different villages and cities in the Netherlands, but, of course, a village from the past was still missing in my ‘portfolio’! If you are interested in the Dutch history and way-of-living, I can highly recommend the Openlucht museum! Of course, just contact me if you need to know anything else about it…