The chalk board wall

"Have a seat! Start each day with a grateful heart" was one of many sayings on the chalk board wall inside..

..De Kippenhal, a cozy restaurant in the centre of Haarlem where we enjoyed lunch a few weeks ago. The wall is on the right here.

Scissors

On the pavement in the city centre of Haarlem. It can't be much of a surprise where this sign leads to! :)

Linking to signs, signs.

The Falcon and The Drafting Compass

This colourful relief of a falcon at 84 Bakenessergracht in Haarlem is a replica of the original stone dating from 1726.

Besides the falcon there used to be a second relief picturing a drafting compass ("passer" in Dutch) above this narrow gate known as "Passerspoort" ("Drafting Compass Gate"). However note the sign of a drafting compass in the opening above the falcon! During the 16th and 17th century one of Haarlem's best known beer breweries called "De Passer en De Valk" ("The Drafting Compass and The Falcon") was located here.

The former brewery's relief stone

These beautifully restored houses at the Bakenessergracht in Haarlem date from the 17th century. The building in the middle of the photo, with the relief stone between the two windows, used to be a brewery until the 19th century.

The gold coloured relief pictures 2 crowned acorns. It is a copy of a relief originally dating from the 17th century named 'TWEE GECROONDE AECKERS'  (or in more modern Dutch ´Twee Gekroonde Eikels´), which was the name of the brewery.

A home and a bench

Photo taken on our way from the Haarlem city centre to the train station.

Wine merchant´s sign

Wine merchant Okhuysen in the city centre of Haarlem...

..attracted my attention with this sign!

Linking to Lesley´s signs, signs.

Ghost mural

A fading ghost mural saying "C.V. Woninginrichting P.P.W. Randoe" and "Randoe is stijl" on a wall at the Gierstraat in Haarlem. Searching for more information I found several old newspaper clippings from the 1940s and 1950s that contained adds by Randoe, who was a home furnisher.
"C.V." stands for "Commanditaire Vennootschap" (Limited partnership business entity) I think?

Participating in Monday Mural.

Round and round

If you stand in the entrance hall of the Teylers Museum, don't forget to look up..  or you will miss this excellent view!

Happy Sunday :)

Teylers Museum paintings

Both views are from inside the Teylers Museum in Haarlem; above is in one of the two 'painting galleries', showing a collection of works from the Dutch Romantic School and the later Hague and Amsterdam Schools. Note how the light comes in through the glass ceiling.

The exhibition Real Winters, with 19th century Dutch paintings, shows the joys of skating and sledding in the freezing cold, with refreshment stalls dotted around the ice. The painting on the left is from Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891) and is titled 'Wintergezicht met schaatsers' (Winter view with skaters'). I really enjoyed these typically Dutch Winter views.

Have a nice weekend!

Teylers Museum Oval Room

The main reason for our trip to Haarlem last Saturday was a visit to the Teylers Museum, an art, natural history and science museum. Established in 1778, it was originally founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The museum was named after Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702-1778), a wealthy cloth merchant and banker of Scottish descent.
The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval Room that you see here.

The Oval Room was designed for research and study, and was opened in 1784. Scientific experiments would be conducted here, public demonstrations held, and books, drawings and prints viewed by the public. A showcase in the centre displays a mineralogical collection from the 18th century.
The upper gallery, which unfortunately wasn't open for the public when we were there, has 12 built-in bookcases. The windows in the ceiling were meant to let in the maximum amount of light.

The white dog

On our way from the Haarlem train station to the Teyler Museum we found this relief stone at the Bakenessergracht no 36. It pictures a dog and an inkwell, and it is located in an unusual spot: near the ground on a wall next to a few steps that lead to an entrance door. I tried to find out what it means and why it was placed here, but all I read was "no one knows exactly where the stone comes from and why it was put here, but it surely wasn't in 1863".
So, unfortunately I can't tell what it is exactly and why, but at least we know what it's not.. ;)

Crown

These crowns can be found on both sides of the Koningsstraat (King´s Street) in Haarlem, so you won´t forget where you are.

I´m linking to signs, signs.

Little Thumb and the Ogre

Pharmacy A.J. van der Pigge at the Gierstraat in Haarlem was opened in 1849. Above the entrance is a so called and traditional ´gaper´, a stone or wooden head indicating that the building is a pharmacy, I have showed you several more on this blog before. And just to remind you: 'Gaper' literally means 'yawner'; the figure is always displayed with an open mouth, and sometimes you can see a pill he has taken resting on his tongue. In fact he wasn't yawning, but opening his mouth to take medicine.

PHARMACY A.J. VAN DER PIGGE

´Little Thumb and the Ogre´

While building the V&D department store in 1930 - 1934

this premises was the only one left to stay from all the

original buildings on this spot.

A well know example of a shop keeper

who refused to give up.

Next to the pharmacy used to be a V&D department store. When V&D came here in the 1930s, a lot of other small shops were forced to go away so the department store could take up the space. Pharmacy Van Der Pigge refused to leave, and in the end was allowed to stay.
This text is on the outside wall of the pharmacy and it got quite a different meaning recently...  Just a month ago V&D (a chain of large department stores in the Netherlands) went bankrupt, and over 10,000 people in 62 Dutch cities lost their jobs. All V&D department stores were closed. Pharmacy A.J. van der Pigge is still open for business...

I'm linking to St Germain's Blog and Seasons.

Monday mural

A nice and nostalgic looking mural in B&W, spotted on a wall in the Gierstraat in the centre of Haarlem.

I'm linking to Monday Mural.

Visit to Haarlem

My mom amd I visited the city of Haarlem and the Teylers museum yesterday, so that is what I will be posting from the coming week :)  This view is from the Gravestenenbrug and the houses across the river Spaarne. The white draw-bridge for pedestrians and cyclists was built around the 13th century.