Harlingen | Stad van de tall ship races en veel meer (2024)

Raising the sails

The harborcity of Harlingen used to have four slopes where dozens of warships would go to sea. Alsothe ship of the Frisian seafaring hero Tjerk Hiddes de Vries. The young Tjerk started his career as deck cleaner in merchant shipping and worked his way up to captain and commander of the Friasian-Groninger fleet with over fourty ships. Most of the time, he would sail as a merchant. In the present day, modern seafaring heroes sail out of one of the eleven harbors in Harlingen. They sail to catch fish, transport residents and visitors of the Wadden islands and transport goods.

City of riches

In the past, Harlingen stood in the shadows of the university city of Franeker. However, being located next to the sea gave Harlingen an important position in trade and it gained city rights in 1234. Earlier than Leeuwarden and about 100 years earlier than Franeker. Through the ages, wellfare increased, something you can still see in the more than 500 monumental buildings through the city. Nowhere else in the Netherlands you will find this much restaurated monuments per square meter. Eat yuor heart out, Amsterdam! From warehouses to churches and lighthouses: they are all a reminder to the rich history of Harlingen.

Frisian tiles from the tile factory

Harlingenligt op een kleiafzetting. En laat dat nude basisgrondstofzijnvoor de tegelsdie zichvanuitdeze Friesehavenstadwereldwijd verspreidden.Diezelfde havenszorgdenervoor dat de andere grondstoffenookgemakkelijk binnenvoeren. Zoalshettin-glazuur waarnijvere handen de gebakken klei mee beschilderden.De huidige tegelfabriekstampt, plakt, snijdt en drukt de tegels nog steeds met de handzoals men in dezestiendeeeuw deed.JevindthetHarlingerhandwerkinternationaalteruginhistorischekastelen en restaurants,maar ook in gewone keukens en badkamers.Zijn we best trots op.

Harlingen is situated at aclay deposit. This happens to be a resource used for making tiles, who are distributed across the globe from this Frisian harborcity. Those same harbors enabled other goods and resources to be imported as well, such as the tin glaze used to paint clay pottery. The tilefactorystill makes the tiles by hand just like the people from the seventeenth century did. You will find Harlinger craftwork internationally in historic castles and restaurants, but also in ordinary kitchens and bathrooms. Something we are quite proud of.