When a mine sweeper mentions in the port of Medemblik, the medieval town suddenly lies in the middle of the danger zone.
When the Second World War started, the then Chief Director of the Rijksmuseum, Dr. Schmidt Degener, will take the decision on 13 May 1940 to take the Night Watch to the Kunstbunker in Castricum that is now ready. The Glastransportwagen runs again from Amsterdam to Medemblik, but this time under the roar of combat aircraft.
Outdoors
When the painting is charged, the column drives to Castricum, but it goes slow and the dark falls. You have to spend the night. In the village of Winkel, all twenty expedition members are housed with people in the village. The Night Watch is packed and put down next to the forge of Halbersma. Wiebe Halbersma, named after his grandfather with whom the painting was placed: “Here was the painting. In the open air, with only a canvas over it.”
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