A century after leaving, Menonitas returns to Friesland

With Henk Bleeker’s photographs, Museum Martena shows the life of Mennonite communities in Paraguay. The exhibition links their history to the Frisian reformer Menno Simons.

Editorial team · 12 October 2026

Landscape in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco. Photo: Ilosuna / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 1.0 · Image source

The exhibition Menonitas tells a history that ran from Friesland to Paraguay and now returns to Museum Martena. Photographer Henk Bleeker turns his camera on the daily life of Mennonite communities.

The community in Paraguay came into being after Mennonites settled there about a century ago. In the wilderness they built a society of their own, which, according to Museum Martena, grew into a successful farming community.

The rear of the Martenahuis in Franeker, photographed in 2021. Photo: Agnes Monkelbaan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

The exhibition is built around photographs, but also around the distance between two worlds. Paraguay seems far away; the link with Friesland lies in the origin of the faith, with the Frisian reformer Menno Simons (1496–1561).

Museum Martena presents the exhibition as a return: from Friesland to Paraguay and now back to Friesland.

Menonitas | Een wereld buiten onze tijd (A World Beyond Our Time) can be seen from 17 October to 6 December 2026 at Museum Martena in Franeker.