Step by step, Pepijn Vemer, chairman of the Hunebedcentrum in Borger, is working on a special project: making his own shoes. And that doesn’t just become shoes. “We make a Drents model from prehistory,” he explains. “Now we get the hairs from a fallow deer skin, and in the end it will be leather.”
With those shoes, Pepijn wants to do more than they admire: he will run a stage from the Pieterpad. “It will undoubtedly be uncomfortable in the beginning, but you will get Blisters. For me it is primarily a challenge, and very nice to participate this year.”
Various primordial shoes have been found in Drenthe over the years. In fact, archaeologists found models that were probably worn about five thousand years ago. “The model that Pepijn makes was typically Drenthe,” says Karin Olfert, activity coordinator of the Hunebedcentrum. “We recognize that by entering the heel. That was only found here.”
The tanning process itself is patient work. First the skin is salted, then soaked, stripped of meat and fat, and finally of hair. Layer by layer the raw skin will turn into dams and soon into a pair of shoes.
For Pepijn it is more than walking. It is a way to keep old crafts alive. “We always have to stay a bit primal man,” he says. “That is why it feels special to literally take a step back in time.”
And that step goes back together with a look ahead. The Hunebedcentrum wants to connect the History in Drenthe even more strongly with the future and is working on plans for an International Museum of World Class. A place where visitors wonder, learn and connect with the earth, time and each other.
“Together with Geopark de Hondsrug and the Drentse Landschap, the hunebed center is working on a future-proof museum that puts this unique region on the map with its ancient landscapes, iconic hunebeds and rich history, both nationally and internationally, and with a UNESCO-worthy appearance.”