Kees Thijssen from Boxmeer has a very special collection. He collects nativity scenes and that hobby is getting out of hand. He now has 3,000. Since this week, 700 can be admired in the Basilica of Boxmeer.
It is not possible to quickly build a few hundred Christmas stalls. Preparations for the exhibition start about a month in advance. “It’s a painstaking job,” says Kees. “I get help from eighteen volunteers.”
The nativity scenes come from all over the world. “If I have kept track of it all correctly, they come from 119 countries. I have made many pilgrimages. In every country I went to I took a nativity scene with me.”
One of the most special in this year’s exhibition is a 2.5 millimeter nativity scene for Kees. “That is the smallest one I have, but perhaps in the whole world. There is a magnifying glass to see it clearly. The stable is even smaller than the head of a match. It was made under a very strong magnifying glass and two tweezers.”
The collection started forty years ago. “I was a teacher in special education and put up a large nativity scene there every year. At a certain point I got tired of that and asked the parents if they had nativity scenes from all over the world.”
Kees got eleven. “Then I took a large map and connected the nativity scenes to the correct countries with ribbons. Ultimately, when it was finished, two parents let me keep the stable. That’s how it started.”
“As of last week I have 3002,” adds the collector. “My wife recently asked Sinterklaas what I wanted for a gift. I really thought why do you even have to ask that.”
The answer, of course, was a nativity scene. Kees’ collection is now so large that they are all safely stored in the basement of the nearby monastery. “I get 80 to 90 more a year. I photograph them all and then they go in boxes to the basement of the monastery.”
“There are now 960 boxes there,” says Kees proudly. “It is literally and figuratively a sacred place for me. All those nativity scenes cannot be in our home. I don’t think my wife would be very happy about that either.”
And the future? “My daughter wants to take over this. I hope it can continue for a long time, so that many people can enjoy the nativity scenes,” he concludes, inviting people to come by. And that will still be possible for a while, because the exhibition can be viewed daily from half past two to half past five until January 4.
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