Hidde Nijland Museum

The Hidde Nijland Museum occupies the former town hall of Hindeloopen, a compact 17th-century building on the main canal. The collection surveys the distinctive local craft of painted furniture — chairs, chests, cradles, and sledges decorated in vivid floral patterns on coloured backgrounds — which was the town's main export industry during its 17th and 18th-century heyday as a prosperous sailing port.

The museum also covers the history of the Elfstedentocht, the legendary 200 km ice skating race across the eleven Frisian cities that Hindeloopen forms part of. When the canals freeze hard enough — which has happened only 15 times in the 20th century, and not at all since 1997 — Hindeloopen becomes one of the iconic stops on the route. Photographs and memorabilia capture the extraordinary atmosphere of those frozen winters.

things to do museum
A story
Hindeloopen's distinctive painted furniture was developed in isolation over several centuries, borrowing motifs from Scandinavian, Chinese, and Japanese decorative arts that arrived via the Dutch East India Company's trade routes. The style — floral patterns on a bright blue, red, or green background — became so distinctive that it was listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Netherlands. In the 17th century, the Hindeloopen style was fashionable enough to be copied in workshops across northern Europe.