Day 3 Eumind

AN INSIGHT INTO HISTORY – ZUIDERZEE MUSEUM

The freezing cold morning saw the warmth of the excited faces of Wittians geared up for a visit to theZuiderzee Museum – South Sea Museum. The Zuiderzee Museum, located on Wierdijk in the historical center of Enkhuizen, is a Dutch museum devoted to preserving the South Sea region's cultural heritage and maritime history.A museum to reckon with as it’s a real life open air museum.

Wittians along with their three teachers and two Dutch teachers boarded the coach at 8.45 am from the school for the Museum. It was a 1hour 15 minutes’ drive through scenic locales which added to the enthusiasm and excitement.

A 5 minute boat ride to the museum was the icing on the cake as it took the Wittiansinto the lap of nature through the icy cold waters of South Sea. The guide at the Museum warmly welcomed the visitors and took charge of them giving them an insight into the history of The Netherlands right from 900 A.D. to the 1900s.

The visit started with the guide leading us into a settlement which was as old as 1905 A.D wherein reclaimed land was restructured and houses were constructed based on the conditions of the times. The settlers at the shores of the South Sea were fisher folk. Hence the museum portrayed the daily lives of the fisher folk.

The first stopover was a house which had a very unique kind of living conditions which included a hand pump in the house for water, stoves and kettles for cooking purposes, primitive heaters wherein coal had to be added manually and lit for centralized heating of the house and bunker beds to house a large number of family members.

The next stopover was the manual making and mending of ropes required during fishing with Hennep. Having seen this novel manner of making a rope, the Wittians excitedly volunteered to make some by themselves.

The next stopover was the laundry house of those times. The laundry used huge barrels in which dirty linen was put in and they used a tumbling system for rigorous wash and spin. These barrels functioned on steam energy. Modern washing machines systems use the same technology except today we use electricity.

The Wittians then moved to a Pharmacy. The medicines used were primitive yet very effective for their times. The pharmacists explained that medicines were kept in bottles with different coloured lids. The red colored lid was symbolic to the colour of Blood. Hence medicines in those bottles were for internal consumption. The blue coloured lid was symbolic to the colour of Sky. Hence medicines in those bottles were meant only for external consumption.

Wittians loved the experience of the museum and were gracious enough to thank the guide profusely for the rich exchange of history and how methodical and meticulous the people were during their times.

Students then had their lunch and moved towards their destination with loads of memories and insights into history.