Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CostandHours:
€2.50,Mon-Sat10:00-17:00,closedSuntotourists,tel.023/553-2040,
Concerts:
Consider attending (even part of) a
concert
to hear the Oz-like pipe organ
(regularfreeconcertsTueat20:15mid-May-mid-Oct,additionalconcertsThuat16:00July-
Aug; bring a sweater—the church isn't heated).
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Frans Hals Museum
Haarlem isthehometownofFransHals,theforemostDutchportraitpainterofthe17th-cen-
turyGoldenAge.Thisrefreshingmuseum,onceanalmshouseforoldmenbackin1610,dis-
plays many of Hals' greatest paintings, crafted in his nearly Impressionistic style. You'll see
group portraits and paintings of old-time Haarlem. Stand eye-to-eye with life-size, lifelike
portraits of Haarlem's citizens—brewers, preachers, workers, bureaucrats, and housewives.
Take a close look at the people who built the Dutch Golden Age, and then watched it start to
fade.
Along with Frans Hals' work, the museum features a copy of Pieter Brueghel the Youn-
ger's
Flemish Proverbs,
a fun painting that shows 72 charming Flemish scenes representing
differentfolksayings.Pickupthecharttoidentifythesecleverbitsofeverydaywisdom.It's
near the 250-year-old dollhouse on display in a former chapel.
Cost and Hours:
€10, often €13 with special exhibits, Tue-Sat 11:00-17:00, Sun
12:00-17:00,
closed
Mon, Groot Heiligland
62, tel.
023/511-5775,
History Museum Haarlem
This small museum, across the street from the Frans Hals Museum, offers a glimpse of old
Haarlem. Request the English version of the 10-minute video, low-key Haarlem's version of
a sound-and-light show. Study the large-scale model of Haarlem in 1822 (when its fortifica-
tions were still intact), and wander the three rooms without English descriptions.
Cost and Hours:
Overpriced at €5, Mon-Sat 12:00-17:00, Sun 13:00-17:00, Groot Hei-
ligland 47, tel. 023/542-2427,
www.historischmuseumhaarlem.nl
.
The adjacent architecture
center (free) may be of interest to architects.
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Corrie ten Boom House
Haarlem was home to Corrie ten Boom, popularized byher inspirational 1971book(and the
1975moviethatfollowed),
TheHidingPlace.
BothtellabouttheTenBoomfamily'sexperi-
enceprotectingJewsfromtheNazis.CorrietenBoomgivestheotherhalfoftheAnneFrank
story—the point of view of those who risked their lives to hide Dutch Jews during the Nazi
occupation (1940-1945).
