Leeuwarden - City of Culture

Three days in Leeuwarden 

Thursday 31st May - Sunday 3rd June 2018

Leeuwarden is the capital of Freyslân and this year it is the European City of Culture. The logo based on the Freyslân flag was on posters and banners all around the city, but what Lucy loved most were the deck chairs. They were outside shops, and all the public places, so you could sit and look at some of the street art. 

Cycling to Leeuwarden - 31st May

On the way to Leeuwarden I stopped at the city of Franeker to visit the Eise Eisinga Planetarium built by Eisinga between 1774 and 1778. It isn’t actually a planetarium in the traditional sense but an orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system. 

As I was the only English speaker there, I had my own guide, which was great as it was more like a chat and I was able to ask questions etc. It was fascinating. Eise Eisinga, a self taught mathematician, built the model on the ceiling of his living room to show people the solar system and to dispel the belief that the world was going to end because they thought the planets were going to crash. It is built to a scale of one millimetre to represent one million kilometres. Various dials on the walls show the date, time, summer and winter solstice and equinoxes, the time of sun rise and set, the phases of the moon and a lot more.  After completion it took him a year to paint it. 

Everything works in real time. The planets orbit the sun in real time so the earth takes one year. It is driven by a huge pendulum which turn a series of cogs constructed with thousands of hand-made wooden nails. The mechanism is housed in the attic above the room and you can climb up to look at it. It is still accurate and has been working continuously for more than 235 years. There are also Eisinga’s plans and drawings and a lot of information about astronomy on display in the museum. 

As you can imagine, Lucy loved using some of the old telescopes that were on display

I arrived in the centre of Leeuwarden with time to go to the VVV (Tourist Information Centre) to pick up some information about events and exhibitions and looked at the new fountain. Eleven fountains have been designed by local artists for the City of Culture year. One has been placed  near the canal in each city on the route of the Elfstedentocht skating race.

The fountain in Leeuwarden with steam rising from it

I lingered a bit too long and it srarted to thunder about two miles from where I was going to stay. Luckily I was near a garage with a little cafe, so I joined several other cyclists who were sheltering from the torrential downpour. If I had been anywhere else I would have been soaked as there is very little shelter and few trees in this part of the Netherlands.

 

Two days exploring Leeuwarden 

1st and 2nd June

I stopped at a cheap, but very pleasant, hotel on the outskirts of the cuty and used the bus to travel into the centre. Because it is the City of Culture they are giving tourists a free one-day travel pass that can be used on all forms of public transport,  anywhere in the Province of  Freyslân. I wonder if Coventry will give West Midland travel passes next year? There was so much to see and do and I had an action packed couple of days. I won’t do a chronological account, but just describe some of the things I did. 

Escher

Escher was born in Leeuwarden and the major exhibition at the Friesmuseum is ‘Escher op reis’ Escher’s journey’. There is also a lot of Street Art, based on Escher’s work. It was interesting to find out how he developed his drawings. He often sketched places while he was there and then he altered  and added to it, changed the perspective, and combined different places for his final woodcuts.

He developed his interest in repetition and tessellation after a visit to the Alhambra where he copied some of the tiles he saw and then did hundreds of drawings of them.  He also designed  his own tiles and developed his tessellations.

‘Escher’s Moorse inspiratie’. One of the designs inspired by the tiles at the Alhambra

I saw a film about him and some modern crocheted wall hangings at the Keramiekmuseum, and a lot of street art on pavements and walls around the city.

Wall hangings at the Keramiekmuseum 

The Friesmuseum 

At the Friesmuseum I learnt about the history, geography and culture of Freyslân and the battle with the sea and shifting landscapes. I also saw some paintings and photographs by Fresian artists. Mata Hari was born in Leeuwarden and, as well as the usual photographs of her in exotic poses and costumes, there was this striking portrait. 

The Oldehove 

The Oldehove, the leaning gothic tower,  is one of the famous land marks in Leeuwarden. Building began in 1529 but it wasn’t completed and the church was never built as they had problems with subsidence and the tower started to lean. You can go in and climb it and see the bells. 

The Keramiekmuseum 

One of the highlights of my visit to Leeuwarden was a visit to the Keramiekmuseum (Ceramic Museum). They have a fabulous collection of Dutch porcelain and tell the history of the industry. But for me it was the collection of tiles that got my attention. As some of you know I love tiles and am always taking photographs of them. Good job I am on a bike, otherwise I would have spent a fortune in the shop. Although I have been carrying a Delfts Blauw tile in my panniers for the last month. 

Part of a decorative tile wall panel

 Part of  a 1707 hunting scene comprising of 585 tiles. 

There were also some fabulous Art Nouveau and Art Deco tiles. It was interesting to read that, at the time of the Great Exhibitions, they found that what sold the best were Art Nouveau tiles and porcelain depicting  stereo typical Dutch scenes of windmills and people wearing clogs etc.

The Freyslân Flag

At one point Lucy rushed into the VVV and cane out with a flag and some socks. The socks were far too big for her so I wondered if she was going to use them as a sleeping. But that night she was busy cutting and sewing and when I woke up she was proudly wearing a Freyslân jersey and hat.

The flag is made up of seven blue and white diagonal stripes and seven red pompeblêdon. These are not hearts but the leaves of the yellow water lily. According to one source they represent the seven ‘sea counties’, independent regions in the Middle Ages that allied against the Vikings. There weren’t actually seven districts and seven probably has the connotation ‘many’. Other sources hold that they represent seven old Frisian lands.

Tomorrow I leave the European City of Culture to cycle to the NE tip of the Province, on the Wadden Sea and visit the Freyslân island of Schiermonnikoog.