Bringing you into a couple of the really great Haarlem museums, Frans Hals Museum and Teylers Museum, and showing you a few other smaller museums, and into the big church, the Grote Kerk.
Frans Hals Museum is one of the top attractions of Haarlem.
The museum is located in the old part of town in a building that dates back to 1609 and was originally a retirement home for single old men.
Inside are works by many other Haarlem artists of the 17th century. Several stately rooms saved from torn down houses have been partially reconstructed from other Haarlem locations with period furniture and decor.
Of course the main attraction are the paintings – 16 of them by Frans Hals, who lived most of his life in Haarlem, between 1616 and 1664, keeping very busy creating many individual portraits, and especially famous for the large group ensembles.
In this principle room it seems like you have entered a great banquet hall divided up in different tables. And as you walk in it seems all the guests have turned around to look at you. There are groups of officers and administrators of the hospital, life-sized, some of them seated with faces turned to the spectator as if posing for a photograph, some standing, all splendidly decorated.
Hals was the master of showing emotional expression in faces. You really feel as if you know these people, as if you'd met them before. This truth of expression and the jovial character, and the ample rich costumes of the 16th century make it seem like you're really looking at the Holland of 300 years ago – as if you're a watching historical play, not just an art gallery. The solo portraits are equally powerful as the groups.
Teylers Museum is the oldest historical museum in the Netherlands and the interior retains that very old-fashioned feeling, like stepping back into 1778 when it was established.
Right away upon entering the first room you'll notice these display cases with that original feeling.
The room is mostly fossils and bones of old creatures, including some remnants of early human and prehuman, and the first example ever found of the Archaeopteryx, a flying dinosaur.
Next we enter a room filled with the variety of scientific instruments including what had been the world's largest electrostatic generator from the 18th century, old telescopes, microscopes, recording devices, telephones, whatnot.
A small darkened room showcases luminescent minerals.
Then we get to the most famous gallery in the museum. It's the Oval Room that dates back to its founding in the late 1700s with mineral displays in the center and all around it, scientific instruments from the 18th century.
The room was designed for research and study with scientific experiments conducted here, and public demonstrations held – in the upper level archives and a library.
More museums, then the big church, Grote Kerk. This impressive church has been the heart of the city and its most important landmark for centuries. Located right in the middle of the market square, it was built in the Gothic style of architecture, originally as a Catholic Church between 1370 and 1520 when it was finished.