Have you ever experienced that you don’t visit a famous attraction in your own country? It happens to us, too. For example, it was only recently that we visited the tulips at the Keukenhof for the first time, with Jan's parents. The visit of our friend and English-language editor Ruth to our country prompted me to visit the Museum Broekerveiling in Broek op Langedijk for the first time. It seems like we take such tourist attractions in our own country for granted, while we do visit them abroad. Well, the point is that you see and experience it at least once.
Broek op Langedijk is located north of Alkmaar, in a region also known as West Friesland. Geestmerambacht is a historic polder area in North Holland, of which Broek op Langedijk is part. The Geestmerambacht originated from the draining of marsh and peat areas and later through further land reclamation, which was essential to make the land suitable for agriculture and habitation. The polder was established by esidents and farmers starting in the 10th century, using dikes, dams, and locks, creating a fertile area. Water management and drainage remained essential, as the area was lower than the surrounding water, such as the IJsselmeer and various lakes and peat rivers. Over time, the system of polders was further refined, especially from the 16th and 17th centuries, when windmills were used to pump water out of the polders. Water management authorities, like the waterschappen (water boards), supervised the dikes and drainage.
‘Broec’ refers to a low-lying place in the water. Near Broek op Langedijk is the Oosterdel, a well-known polder area that was once famous for its horticulture on small islands, the so-called ‘realm of a thousand islands.’ That name is not an exaggeration, as there were said to be about 15,000 islands. These were long, narrow strips of land, small plots where vegetables were grown. Due to population growth in the 19th century, there was a greater need for food, and the production on the islands was more than welcome. The small islands were not suitable for mechanization. Through land consolidation in the 1960s, the importance of water transport decreased, and islands were merged, turning into residential areas, nature reserves, and some farmland. At the Museum Broekerveiling, you can learn about the realm of a thousand islands and, of course, the auction building.
After the auction closed in 1973, the auction building was bought by the municipality to turn it into a museum. In 1975, it became a national monument. After a restoration in 1979 – made possible by funds from the state – Princess Beatrix opened the new museum. Since 2009, the museum has been expanded with an entrance and exhibition building designed by Flip Rosdorff. It is a glass building with aerial photos of the ‘realm of a thousand islands’ printed on it. Inside the building, there are exhibitions, and in the open-air museum, visitors get an impression of the agriculture, crafts, and living conditions around the islands. A boat tour of the Oosterdel area is part of the museum visit, as well as experiencing an auction, which will be discussed later.
The structure of this area meant that everything had to be transported by boat. The boats – called skuiten or vletten here – were usually made of black tarred steel with red and green accents, often equipped with a fixed diesel engine. Boats without engines were propelled with the kloet; a wooden pole with a V-shaped bottom that had grip in the clay but didn’t get stuck. What makes Broek op Langedijk special is that the vegetable auction was also entirely boat oriented. It was the first sail-through vegetable auction in Europe, established in 1887 at the Bakkersbrug (the bakers bridge). The auction initially took place in the open air. To make it more orderly, a pier and a canal were added. In 1896, a horticultural cooperative was established, and two years later, an inspector was appointed. In 1903, an auction clock was purchased, which was probably hung in an old auction building. A lot of money was involved in the trade of vegetables: in 1907, 700,000 guilders were traded, and by 1911, the annual turnover had already reached nearly 3 million guilders. In 1907, a railway connection was made between St. Pancras and Broek op Langedijk, allowing the vegetables to be transported to Rotterdam.
The old auction building from 1904 was replaced in 1912 with a new construction designed by W. Dirkmaat Jz. and Joh. Groot. The auction building was built on wooden stilts over the water, allowing growers to sail through the auction hall with their boats loaded with vegetables. It was therefore also called a sail-through auction. In 1922, the building was expanded with a waiting hall above the water where boats could wait for the auction. It functioned as a covered harbor, protecting the products from direct sunlight, rain, and other weather conditions while they waited. In 1925, an entrance and a second waiting hall were built, creating a total of 200 docking spaces. The waiting halls are fully accessible. Inside the halls, various boats are moored, and part of the area is set up as an exhibition space.
As a visitor, you can also visit the auction building and experience an auction. It is, of course, a demonstration auction, but you can place bids yourself and buy horticultural products. It is a beautiful wooden building with the waterway in the middle. There is a rolling door on the side of the waiting halls and another rolling door under the auction clock that leads you outside. On both sides, there are wooden benches. In these benches, there are 100 buttons one for each buyer. In floriculture, horticulture, and the trading of fish, auctions are conducted by 'Dutch auction' or 'descending bid.' A product is offered at a high price, and the price drops until someone agrees. The advantage of this method is speed; only one bid is needed to complete a transaction. In the past, this form of auction was done orally, and the first trader to shout "mine!" (meaning "it’s mine!") could indicate what portion of the lot they would take at that price. To prevent multiple traders from shouting "mine!" simultaneously, the auction clock was introduced. When the price drops below a certain value, the clock stops, and no transaction is made. This is also known as the product being ‘turned down.’ This serves as a minimum price. It works differently from an auction where the price keeps increasing, which is more familiar. It's fun to experience this at least once.
From the waiting halls, a boat departs at set times, taking visitors on a tour through the Oosterdel, a nature reserve that offers a glimpse of the realm of a thousand islands. The many small islands are almost gone, and hardly anything is cultivated there anymore, but with a bit of imagination and the stories from the captain, you get a good sense of what once existed here. There are still some areas where you can see a similar landscape and structure, and where vegetables are still grown. One of these areas is in French Flanders and is called Audomarois.
French Flanders or Southern Flanders is the area that in the 16th century was largely part of the Seventeen Provinces. It was ceded to the Kingdom of France between 1659 and 1713 as a result of the wars of King Louis XIV. Dutch was once spoken there, and both Dutch and French names are used for the places. The Audomarois is in a low-lying part of the Flemish coastal plain, a landscape similar to what we know in the Netherlands. The valley of the Aa marks the landscape, as well as the Neufossé Canal, which has connected the Lys to the Aa since 1753 and forms the border with Flanders. The history of the Audomarois is closely tied to the city of Saint Omer and the adjacent marsh. That marsh covers about 3,700 hectares of wetlands as of 2010, a remnant of a vast swamp that has been drained through 160 km of waterways since the early Middle Ages. The marshes were drained by monks to serve as agricultural land. The polders of Audomarois, protected by UNESCO, now form a collection of (is)lands, connected by many kilometers of waterways. All these lands were cultivated by local farmers, who grow more than fifty types of vegetables there, especially cauliflower. Remarkably, farmers are still active in this area. You’ll notice this by the vegetable and fruit stalls along the roads, and even more so if you take a boat trip.
At the Maison du Marais, you can take a boat tour that starts behind the visitor center. You will soon pass a reconstructed wooden polder mill from 1985. This mill originally stood at another location along the river Kleine Clemingue. There were at least six such mills in the Audomarois. They were not only necessary for draining the land but also to ensure that the plots for horticulture remained sufficiently dry between March and November. After heavy rainfall, the mill could also be used to pump excess water toward the river Aa. The mill that has been rebuilt here is the Moulin d’Aile, which lost its sails in a severe thunderstorm in 1948. What’s beautiful to see in this reconstructed mill is the so-called Archimedes' screw. In Dutch, it is also called a screw pump. The screw is powered by the mill's sails, and it pumps water from a lower point to a higher one. The screw is housed in a fitting wooden casing to prevent water from leaking. At the top, the water was discharged via a masonry channel.
You can also take a boat trip in a marsh boat with a traditional boatmaker at the workshop Les Faiseurs de Bateau. Rémi Colin, the last traditional boatmaker in the region, can show you how the traditional marsh boats – the escute and the bacôve – are made. Unlike the area near Broek op Langedijk, people here still live and work on the islands. You’ll experience that the waterways function as roads: everything is marked with signs, so you know where you are and where you are or are not allowed to sail. The farms are small and difficult to access, and the land is not very stable. This means you see people working with hand plows, and the harvest is still transported by boat.
We really experienced what it’s like to stay in such an area, as we slept in the holiday house Le Moulin Rougenear Clairmarais. This is an area to the east of Saint Omer, just east of the Neufossé Canal, with the same characteristics as Audomarois. Le Moulin Rouge – yes, there really is a small red replica of a windmill in the garden – used to serve as a café-restaurant. It has now been converted into a holiday home. You have to cross a bridge to reach the property. You are surrounded by water. When you sit in the garden, it’s a constant stream of (tour) boats passing by.
Klaarmares also has a long history as a place. On April 26, 1140, the Count of Flanders, Thierry of Alsace, and his wife founded the Abbey of Clarimarais here. The Abbey of Clairmarais was a Cistercian abbey and a daughter abbey of the Abbey of Clairvaux, founded by Bernard of Clairvaux. At its founding, it received many gifts from high-ranking noble individuals. There was a succession of 59 abbots until the abbey was dissolved in 1791 and sold as national property, like so many church possessions after the French Revolution. The demolition of the abbey began in 1802 and took ten years. Parts and goods from the abbey ended up elsewhere after its destruction. The abbey farm was not demolished, and the buildings still stand today. It is privately owned, but you can still take a look. The town no longer had a church after the abbey disappeared, until a church was finally erected near the abbey ruins in 1873. In front of the church is a striking statue to commemorate the fallen children of World War I. Next to the monument stands a large statue of a soldier in a light blue uniform, leaning on his bayonet. In this area, memories of the 'Great War' are never far away. From Klaarmares, you can take walks that also lead you past farms and waterways.
It’s somewhat a matter of guesswork as to why horticulture on the islands in the Audomarois has been partially preserved, unlike in Broek op Langedijk. The Netherlands quickly embraced mechanization in agriculture and horticulture. To work the land effectively with machines, larger plots of land were much more efficient. In Broek op Langedijk, the area's structure rapidly deteriorated once land consolidation began. This was likely much less the case in the Audomarois. Additionally, the proximity of the city of Saint Omer, providing a nearby market, may also have played a role. Saint Omer has a port, and the Audomarois and Clairmarais are directly accessible by water. There was no need for an auction house in the area itself, as the city provided a market.
In contrast to Broek op Langedijk, it was not the farmers and residents but rather the monks who were the driving force behind the reclamation of the land around Saint Omer. Saint Omer originated in the 7th century around the founded Abbey of Saint Bertin. The Abbey of Saint Bertin became one of the most influential monasteries in Northwest Europe. The abbey experienced its greatest prosperity from its founding until the mid-13th century. From the 9th century, it was responsible for draining thousands of hectares of marshland. The abbey remained until its dissolution in August 1791 following the French Revolution. The forty remaining monks were expelled, and the buildings were initially used as a hospital for the French army. Soon after, the dismantling of the buildings began. What the monks had not taken with them was publicly auctioned (including woodwork, paintings, altars, stained glass, marble, furniture, reliquaries, consecrated vessels, tapestries, organs, ironwork, and the bells of the carillon). The buildings were sold but remained partially intact. In 1811, the municipal government repurchased the buildings. The nave of the church was still standing, but it was further demolished, and the materials were used to build Saint Omer’s town hall, a music school, and a slaughterhouse. From 1840, the remaining walls and ruins were preserved as a protected monument. The abbey tower (58 m) remained standing but collapsed in 1947. The remnants of the abbey are now a striking presence on the outskirts of the city.
Faith has left many traces in the city: the Gothic Church of Our Lady in Saint Omer (13th-15th century, cathedral of the former Diocese of Saint Omer), the Church of Saint Denis (13th and 18th centuries), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (12th and 15th centuries), the former Jesuit College, rebuilt in 1592 (with the Bibliothèque de l'Agglomération de Saint-Omer and the notable Salle du Patrimoine), and the former Episcopal Palace (1680-1701; expanded in 1843-1844, now functioning as a courthouse). In our opinion, the reclamation of the surrounding lands into a thriving horticultural area is also a legacy worth describing and portraying.
