244. Europe Bicycle Trip--Haarlem Grote Markt and The Frans Hals Modern Exhibition--"Sky"

After I finished my tour of Corrie Ten Boom Museum, I continued on down the street toward the Grote Markt (central market square).

Making my way down Barteljorisstraat

An acquaitance of ours has a little boy called Leonidas. Here the store sells Belgian chocolates.

Grote Markt (central market square) and St. Bavo church, De Vishal-- now Frans Hals modern art museum, De Hallen beside the church. All year long on Saturdays and Mondays there is a big market in the square where flowers, household goods,cloth, sewing accessories,clothing  and food are sold.

City hall in Haarlem is the seat of the city's government. It was built in the 14th century replacing the Count's castle. The distinctive facade of the building was designed by architect Lieven de Key and built from 1602-1604. It used to house the Frans Hals Museum and Haarlem Public Library but today it is a large complex with offices and meeting rooms. It is used for civic weddings .

Winter sky over the frozen waters--I didn't have time today to go to the Frans Hals Museum of Dutch master paintings but here in the market square there is the Frans Hals Exhibition hall of Modern Art . There was an exhibition titled "Sky--in Dutch Art since 1850" so I entered the building next to the Grote Kerk (big church). The museum pass that I had purchased earlier in my trip covered the entrance fee. There were some 150 paintings, sculptures, photographs and films showing how inspiring the sky was and still is as a subject for artists since 1850. The 'inventor' of the sky in painting was the 17th century Haarlem born artist Jacob van Ruisdael. he was the first to allow legendary Netherlandish cloudy skies to dominate his landscapes.

"Herfst" by Leo Gestel (1881-1941)--Autumn storm

A night sky over the sea

3 dimensional depiction of the cloud in the sky

Een Schip in Een Zeestorm (A ship in a sea storm) by Louis J. H. Meijer (1809-1866)

Ijsgezicht Met Molen En Koek-En-Zopie (Ice skating landscape with windmills at Koek-En-Zopie) by Charles Leickert (1816-1907)

Gezicht Op Haarlem (Landscape of Haarlem) by Casper Faassen

Storm, Riviergezicht (Storm, River Landscape) by Marius Ricthters (1878-1955)

I walked out of the museum and out into the central square and more tourists were milling about as it was about 3pm. I walked toward the church.

On the way , I passed this statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster holding up the letter "A" . He was born in Haarlem. He was mentioned in documents to be the city assessor and as the city treasurer. Coster is known as the inventor of the first printing press. History says that he was in the Haarlemmerhout (woods) carving letters from bark for the amusement of his grandchildren and observed that the letters left impressions on the sand. He proceeded to invent a new type of ink that didn't run, and he began a printing company based on his invention with a primitive typesetting arrangement using moveable type. His work was later stolen by one of his assistants. He probably died in the plaque that visited Haarlem in 1439-1440.

Some wooden shoes in front of a souvenir store by the church