Harderwijk. Best known for the Dolphinarium, but the old Hanseatic city is so much more. University city for example. Ever. ‘Professor doctor Fetze Alsvanouds of the University of Harderwijk’ may be an invention of the makers of the television program Het Klokhuis, but the university – where you could study medicine and botany – did indeed exist. Until the early nineteenth century.
Even the famous botanist Linnaeus received his PhD there. A few buildings, a tower and part of the hortus botanicus remain of the university. The Hortus Park is a pleasant green oasis in the city that once had a monopoly on fish thanks to its strategic location on the Zuiderzee. Harderwijk is no longer on the open sea, but we still see fish prominently on many menus here. The Vischpoort and the Vischmarkt are still important locations in the city.
Harderwijk offers more flavors than just fish
Nowadays, this is where culinary hotspots can be found, with even two restaurants with a Michelin star on the Vischmarkt. If we explore the city center further, we soon discover that it is teeming with trendy shops, cozy terraces, hip ice cream parlors and eateries. Harderwijk offers more flavors than just fish. It is also the city where Van Delft has been baking gingerbread nuts since 1880. In the shop we indulge ourselves in the most exotic flavors, even though Sinterklaas is still a long way off.
Outside the city walls there is also a lot of commotion. Where there once was the sea, there is now a lake and a new boulevard with countless restaurants. And: a beach! So many swans swim on the adjacent water that ‘Swan Lake’ would be a better name than the current Wolderwijd. On a sunny day like today it is pleasant to walk along the water. When we sit on the terrace of a beach bar with our feet in the sand a little later, around sunset, it actually feels like a holiday.
Harderwijk may have a beach and be on the water, but on the other side of the city it looks completely different. Harderwijk’s backyard is green – and purple in the fall: the Leuvenumse Bos. Where, in addition to trees, there are also dunes, streams, sand drifts and heathland. Not surprising: we are in the green heart of the Netherlands, the Veluwe. Ideal place for those who want to leave the liveliness of the city behind.
The large square is the ‘living room of Deventer’
With our internal battery recharged and our lungs full of clean forest air, we drive straight across the Veluwe to another Hanseatic city: Deventer, on the IJssel. Van Delft may have been baking gingerbread, gingerbread and biscuits in Harderwijk for 143 years, but the only real cookie city is Deventer.
We will of course visit the Deventer Koekwinkel on the Brink. The large square is sometimes called the ‘living room of Deventer’. We understand that, because the atmosphere radiates from this square with historic buildings and countless terraces, although the streets and alleys behind it are just as good to relax. Here too, there are many unique shops and trendy eateries. And like in every Hanseatic city, you can walk straight back into the Middle Ages here.
We take a chance and climb the highest tower and icon of the city, the Lebuinus. More than 200 steps of spiral staircase later, we view Deventer from above and see the IJssel glittering through the landscape. Nowadays there are inland vessels sailing, but with a little imagination we see the cog ships full of cake sailing away to trading partners in Scandinavia to return from Bergen with shiploads full of stockfish.
When we have both feet on the ground again, Egbert Scheffer from Street Art Streets is ready to show us a different Deventer. There are about 25 large paintings on walls throughout the city. These murals are not just nice decoration, they tell a story.
‘The works of art tell the stories of the city’
Of course, the story of the Hanseatic city of Deventer is discussed, but the art route offers more than that, says Egbert. “Street Art Streets fits in with what Deventer wants to be: authentic, innovative and stubborn. We are not only a city with a beautiful historic city center, but also a city with modern art forms. Old and new come together and the works of art tell the stories of the city.”
About the Sluiswijk, for example. This district is located under the ‘smoke’ of the Adelaarshorst, the football stadium of the Go Ahead Eagles. For a few years now, ten colorful murals have adorned the previously bare walls of the rental houses. Biscuit also plays a role here, because Sluis refers to the biscuit factory of the same name. The factory used to be in the middle of the neighborhood and the workers lived in the houses around it. The factory disappeared, the name remained. And now that piece of history has been immortalized on a wall.
Each of the murals has a story, sometimes very personal, as we read in the route booklet. A little further on, in the Ludgeruskwartier, several flats are scheduled for demolition. Large works of art have appeared on the sides of a number of flats, which also tell this story of Deventer. The fact that the works of art are doomed to disappear during demolition is inherent to street art, says Egbert, as we continue cycling through Deventer in search of other street art. Fortunately we still have the pictures.
Hanseatic year 2023
In 2023, the Dutch Hanseatic cities in the center and east of the country will experience a special year. During the Hanze year 2023, various activities are on the program until December 31, including:
* Saturday October 14, 2023: 24 hours Hanze
The 24 Hours Hanze event takes place in nine Hanseatic cities (in addition to Harderwijk and Deventer, these are Zwolle, Kampen, Hasselt, Hattem, Doesburg, Elburg and Zutphen). A weekend full of cultural activities, music, exhibitions, workshops and tours.
* December 22 to 30, 2023: Color the Hanze
During this light show, one or more buildings in each Hanseatic city are transformed into a ‘coloring page’ that residents, visitors and artists have signed in advance and submitted online. In Harderwijk the Vischpoort is in the spotlight, in Deventer it is the Waag on the Brink and the town hall. Everyone can participate: the coloring page of the Hanseatic city of your choice can be downloaded from the website.
* Until December 30, 2023: Hanze Experience
In Deventer you can go back to the Middle Ages in the Old Maria Church during the Hanseatic Experience, a free multimedia performance. See: hanzejaar2023.nl
History with a wink
In a number of Hanseatic cities in the Netherlands and Germany, meter-high murals can be seen that tell the story of the past with a nod to the city’s present. They were painted by painters/artists collective De Strakke Hand, residents from the city served as models. In the heart of Harderwijk (address: Klooster 17) the link to fishing and spiritual life can be seen (there used to be five monasteries in Harderwijk). Van Delft’s gingerbread nuts are also reflected in the artwork. In the Treurnietsgang in Deventer you will find the mural that, in addition to the Deventer cake and stockfish, also features the local football club. This mural is part of the Street Art Streets route. www.visithanzesteden.nl/muurschilderingen