A drawing on paper, that’s all the Enkhuizer Buitenmuseum was in 1947. A dream of urban planner Siebe Jan Bouma. Using a map and maps from the land register, architect Kees Heijligenberg, among others, worked out the design further. The rescue for the museum, which has since grown into a cultural heritage site.
The arrival of the Afsluitdijk in 1932 changed life around the Zuiderzee forever. The sea becomes the IJsselmeer. And many of the Zuiderzee towns that depend on fishing until then have to reinvent themselves because their work is largely disappearing.
Even before that, a battle ensued about where the Zuiderzee Museum should be located. Amsterdam is fishing for it, but also Harderwijk, Volendam, Muiden and Hoorn. The fact that the choice falls on Enkhuizen also has ‘the city’s dowry Kees Hendriks, Head of Collection and Information at the Zuiderzee Museum, explained earlier.
Creator dies prematurely
The Binnenmuseum opens in 1948. Meanwhile, Siebe Jan Bouma is working on his plan: a counterfeit Zuiderzee village. But how do you do that? An effect that Bouma would never experience. He dies in 1959.
In the late 1960s, architect Kees Heijligenberg was asked to further develop the plan. “Based on old maps of Zuiderzee villages and cadastral drawings from 1830, I made a design. I used parts of that and became the basis,” says the now 92-year-old architect.
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Zuiderzee Museum plan halted by minister
It turns out to be the breakthrough for the Zuiderzee Museum. The patience of the Minister of Education, Arts and Sciences had run out. “It was essentially stopped. It cost too much money. But when they saw that it was based on original structures, the money tap was opened again,” says Heijligenberg.
The Outdoor Museum finally opened in 1983. This year, the Zuiderzee Museum as a whole is celebrating its 75th anniversary.