The Zuiderzee Museum tells two sides of one story, outdoors and in

A village outside and a treasure house inside: the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen has two parts. On Monday 19 October, both ’t Zuiderzeedorp and the Schathuys are open from 10 am to 5 pm. One museum ticket covers both. Moving between them helps show how an object once belonged to a house, workshop or boat.

In the Zuiderzee village, buildings, water and crafts give that past a setting. The museum shows how work around the former Zuiderzee was often tied to fishing. Craft demonstrations make clear that a fisherman at sea relied on work done ashore too: things had to be made, repaired and maintained.

Inside the Schathuys, that history is held in objects and voices. The permanent exhibition Zee vol verhalen covers the homes, work, clothes, customs and celebrations of people from the Zuiderzee region, past and present. Audio stories and video portraits add lived experience to the objects, showing not only what something looked like but what it meant in daily life.

The Ship Hall gives the water its own scale again. It holds important wooden boats from the collection, while the museum places its iron vessels in the village harbour. In Zee vol verhalen, the boats are linked to fishing and to life before and after the construction of the Afsluitdijk. Here, a boat is both an object and a workplace.

An old-fashioned Dutch fair also runs in the village from 10 to 25 October. On the 19th, this temporary layer can complement the houses and the Schathuys. The announced evening openings are only on Saturdays 17 and 24 October; Monday is a daytime visit. The new Waarde van wol exhibition opens on 23 October, so it is not part of this museum day.

The two parts do not close for the season together after 25 October: the village’s season ends then, while the Schathuys remains open daily. On Monday 19 October, both are accessible from 10 am to 5 pm. Each part has its own entrance and daily programme.