Do you want to (re)discover Amersfoort? Then take a stroll through our city with Amersfoort Guides. Together with guest blogger Chanou I followed the tour in Kuiperij Meester. Highly recommended!
At first, Hell Street seems like a very "normal" shopping street. I regularly walk through here to get lunch at the local supermarket or when I go into town for shopping. But the fact that among all these new buildings from the 20th century there is a beautiful piece of heritage, I didn't realize at all. So it was high time to change that.
Step into the past
City guide Inge opened the door of the coopers' workshop and home of Amersfoort's last coopers. Full of amazement, Chanou and I walked into the former living room of the Meester family. As many as three generations practiced their craft in this building until the last cooper (Marinus) passed away in 2015. The building was then conservatively restored. The 17th century features of the building have remained intact. This is what makes the cooperage so special.
In the former living room, now set up as a mini museum, Inge tells you everything you want to know about the cooperage. I found the unique history of the cooper's craft particularly interesting. I was given a handy cooper's manual, which shows you exactly how barrels are made. During the tour, of course, you also find out what all these barrels were used for.
Cool to know: Inge drew the coopers manual all by herself. And she makes many more cool things! An annual Amersfoort calendar, goose board and quartet. So be sure to take a look at the Amersfoort Guides webshop;-)
Yard of the cooperage
From the courtyard you have a perfect view of the Lange Jan (Our Lieve Vrouwetoren). You can also hear the chimes much better, because it is fairly quiet around the cooperage and you are not bothered by noise.
Not only the view, but also the yard itself is very impressive. In fact, in the yard of the cooperage are two almshouses. These were rented out to poor workers in the 19th century. The cottages had a fireplace, wall with bedsteads and stone floor tiles. You can hardly imagine that people actually lived here....
Workshops with lots of history
Pieces of wood, tools, blacksmith's fire, barrels and machinery. In the two surviving cooper's workshops you will come across it all. In the first workshop you can see that all the work was mainly done by hand, while the second workshop was already more modernized and used a lot of machines. A nice contrast.
Walking through the workshops, you get the feeling that someone is still at work. Wood chips are literally on the work tables, the completed calendar from 1985 hangs on the wall, and on the chalkboard is a list of actions the cooper still had to take. You truly enter for a moment into the magical world of the cooper and his craft!
Bring on that tour
A tour of the cooperage, after reading this blog, don't you want one too? Book your spot(s) for the tour or choose from one of the many other tours Amersfoort Guides offers.
In any case, we know for sure: soon we will go out again with city guide Inge to learn even more about Amersfoort.
