Treasures from the shelf
The highlights of the water heritage collection can be admired in the permanent exhibitionWaterschat(Water Treasure). During office hours, this exhibition can be viewed in the lobby of our central office at Stationsplein 136 in Heerhugowaard.
An accompanying free audio tour highlights various objects. Listen and learn about the shipworm, a tropical boring mussel that attacked the wood in the sea dikes in the 18th century. Heavy posts and beams were completely pierced and broke like matchsticks. Or the legend of the Purmer sea woman. During a severe storm in 1403, the sea dike broke and the sea woman washed into the Purmer from the Zuiderzee through the breach. Milkmaids from Edam caught her and taught her to spin. The enormous wall map by surveyor Johannes Dou from 1680 also features in the audio tour. It took him sixteen years to accurately map the whole of North Holland. His overview map is still of great importance today.
