Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Ten Boom House is open only for English tours—check the sign on the door for
the next start time. The gentle and loving one-hour tours come with a little evangelizing that
some may find objectionable.
CostandHours:
Free,butdonationsaccepted;April-OctTue-Satfirsttourat10:00,last
tourat15:30;Nov-MarchTue-Satfirsttourat11:00,lasttouraround15:00;closedSun-Mon
year-round; 50 yards north of Grote Markt at Barteljorisstraat 19; the clock-shop people get
all wound up if you go inside—wait in the little side street at the door, where tour times are
posted; tel. 023/531-0823,
www.corrietenboom.com
.
Background:
TheclockshopwastheTenBoomfamilybusiness.Theelderlyfatherand
his two daughters—Corrie and Betsy, both in their 50s—lived above the store and in the
brick building attached in back (along Schoutensteeg alley). Corrie's bedroom was on the
top floor at the back. This room was tiny to start with, but then the family built a second,
secret room (less than a yard deep) at the very back—“the hiding place,” where they could
hide six Jews at a time. Devoutly religious, the family had a long tradition of tolerance, hav-
ing hosted prayer meetings here in their home for both Jews and Christians for generations.
The Gestapo, tipped off that the family was harboring Jews, burst into the Ten Boom
house. Finding a suspicious number of ration coupons, the Nazis arrested the family, but
failed to find the six Jews (who later escaped) in the hiding place. Corrie's father and sister
died while in prison, but Corrie survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp to tell her
story in her memoir.
▲
Teylers Museum
Famous as the oldest museum in Holland, Teylers is a time-warp experience, filled with all
sorts of fun curios for science buffs: fossils, minerals, primitive electronic gadgetry, and ex-
amples of 18th- and 19th-century technology (it also has two lovely painting galleries and
hosts good temporary exhibits).
Cost and Hours:
Overpriced at €10, includes excellent (and I'd say, essential) audi-
oguide, Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 12:00-17:00, closed Mon, Spaarne 16, tel. 023/516-0960,
www.teylersmuseum.nl
. The museum's modern café has good prices and faces a delightful
garden.
Visiting the Museum:
The science-oriented sections of this place feel like a museum of
a museum. They're serious about authenticity here: The presentation is perfectly preserved,
right down to the original labels. Since there was no electricity in the olden days, you'll find
little electric lighting...if it's dark outside, it's dark inside. The museum's benefactor, Pieter
Teyler van der Hulst, was a very wealthy merchant who willed his estate, worth the equi-
valent of €80 million today, to a foundation whose mission was to “create and maintain a
museum to stimulate art and science.” The museum opened in 1784, six years after Teyler's
death (his last euro was spent in 1983—now it's a national museum). Add your name to the
