IJlst was the skate-making capital of the Netherlands for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and this small museum tells that story through original tools, moulds, finished skates, and photographs from the factory floor. The Nooitgedagt workshop produced blades for generations of Dutch speed skaters and Sunday afternoon recreational skaters alike.
The collection is compact but well-organised. It sits in the former factory building, so the space itself is part of the exhibit. If you have any interest in the Elfstedentocht — the great Frisian ice race — the museum gives useful context for what the skates actually had to endure.