Openluchtmuseum en Themapark De Spitkeet

Open today from 10:00 until 17:00

Open today from 10:00 until 17:00

Fri 10:00 - 17:00
Sat (Koningsdag) 10:00 - 17:00
Sun 13:00 - 17:00
Mon Closed
Tue - Wed 10:00 - 17:00
Overview of opening hours
De Dunen 3
9281 KT Harkema
Plan route Plan route

0512 - 84 04 31

Openluchtmuseum Themapark De Spitkeet in Harkema
A spitkeet, or plaggenhut, was built in 1 day
Huisje van binnen
The interior of a spitkeet
Binnenkant van een van de huisjes
Smaller than small: this is how people lived in a cave house

Would you prefer to live in a cave house or one that complies with the Housing act? Marvel at the houses at Openluchtmuseum De Spitkeet (De Spitkeet open-air museum) and discover how people in the heathlands of Friesland and Groningen lived between 1850 and 1950.

On its 4-hectare grounds, open-air museum De Spitkeet illustrates the rough living conditions of the heathlands of Friesland and Groningen between 1850 and 1950. The people were very poor and their living conditions appalling. The different types of houses show how the people lived and worked.

History comes alive in the different types of houses. The museum is named after the spitkeet, a peat hut that could be built in a single day. The waldhûske (Frisian woodland houses) were a little more luxurious, with stone walls, closet-beds and a separate space for cattle. The subsided houses offered even more comfort, and were built by the Stichting Woningbouw Achtkarspelen (Achtkarspelen housing foundation) from 1909 onwards. The holwoning, or cave house, was little more than a hill. The poorest lived in these.

Access

Netherlands Museum Pass valid

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Facilities

More information on the museum website

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