Art and Culture

In every village in the municipality, you can view one or more works of art. For an overview of the artworks, go to the website of Keunstwurk.

Tytsjerksteradiel is one of the largest municipalities in Friesland. The municipality has an area of ​​over 16,100 ha. The landscape is particularly varied: peat, water, meadows and forest. The municipality has two special nature reserves:

• national landscape 'De Noardlike Wâlden';
• national park 'De Alde Feanen'.

The national landscape 'De Noardlike Wâlden' (The Northern Woodlands) distinguishes itself through the specific coherence between the different parts of the landscape, such as nature (flora and fauna), relief (e.g., stream valleys and mounds), land use, and buildings (such as village views and fortresses). Together, these elements tell the story of the Dutch landscape. The status 'National Landscape' implies that there is extra attention and that extra financial resources are released to maintain and strengthen the so-called core qualities of the areas. The core qualities of the Northern Woodlands are:

• small-scale pattern of ribbon development, wood banks (high dikes), alder hedges with gradual transitions to open enclaves in between (meadows and heathlands) and local esker areas (es = collection of pieces of arable land around a village);
• relatively dense network of hedgerows and alder rows;
• variation in scale and (limited) relief;
• extending strips to (locally) irregular block allotment with an average length-width ratio of 1:4 à 1:5;
• structuring elements such as plantings, geological elements (pingo ruins, pools), ribbon villages, roads and paths with roadside planting.

The National Park 'De Alde Feanen' is an area where the preservation and development of valuable nature are central. The National Park offers opportunities for nature-oriented recreation, information and education, and scientific research. For more information, see the website De Alde Feanen.nl.

Adam Aukes (Dam) Jaarsma 

(1914 - 1991) 

Adam Aukes Jaarsma was a Frisian writer, poet, and collector of folk tales. Jaarsma was the son of a cattle farmer from Eastermar. He studied theology at the University of Groningen.

Due to the Second World War, he did not complete his studies. He became an assistant minister and religious teacher in Delfzijl, but soon returned to his birthplace, Eastermar (photo). Besides being a liberal reformed assistant minister, he developed into a Frisian-language writer and poet. In 1954, he received the Rely Jorritsma Prize for his poem “Allinne”, a Frisian literature prize that was awarded for the first time that year.

In 1989, he received the honorary medal of the municipality of Tytsjerksteradiel. His birthplace on the E.M. Beimastraat is named the Dam Jaarsmahûs after him. Besides being a writer and poet, Jaarsma was also a collector of old folk tales. His client was the "Folkskundebureau van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen" (KNAW), since 1998 the "Meertens Instituut", an institute that became known through the work of writer Voskuil. Jaarsma collected 15,000 folk tales, most of which come from this area, the Frisian Woodlands.

Age Looxma Ypeij

(1833 - 1892)

The history of Age Looxma Ypeij does not begin in 1833 with his birth, but centuries earlier. His double name, composed of the name of his father and his mother, immediately shows what came together a generation before him: Looxma and Ypeij.

He was the result of an alliance between two families: the Looxmas and the Ypeijs, a son of Nicolaas Ypeij and Baudina Looxma. In the nineteenth century, both families belonged to the 'grote burgerij' (grand bourgeoisie), which means that they were members of the noble and patrician upper class of the community (which made up about 3% of the population). To get this far, they had had to travel a long way in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a long march upwards. They had been successful, other families had not.

In their marriage, the two family traditions came together, that of the money of the Looxmas and that of the intellect of the Ypeijs. Vijversburg, which Nicolaas Ypeij's father-in-law had bought at that time, was little more than a house by a farm on a not-too-large plot. Nicolaas Ypeij – in the years after the death of his father-in-law in 1843 – made the house and later the grounds, in form at least, as they are today. He demolished the adjacent farm, enlarged the house in a number of stages, and bought surrounding plots to lay out the park in English landscape style.

In 1869, Nicolaas dies and Baudina is left behind with her son Age. In 1890, Baudina dies and in 1892, Age dies, who never married and therefore had no children.

In his will, with the words 'In memory of my mother', it is arranged, among other things, that a foundation 'Op Toutenburg' is established, which has the task of maintaining the park and the villa and managing the farms in Tytsjerksteradiel. In addition, the foundation must build a 'house with twenty rooms'. These rooms were intended for twenty of the most needy married couples from the three villages Tytsjerk, Ryptsjerk and Hurdegaryp. The houses are still there today and are located on Swarteweisein on the site where the castle of Schenk van Toutenburg once stood. The family's porcelain collection, consisting of 50,000 pieces, was bequeathed to the province of Friesland and was briefly on display in the Fries Museum. Since 2007, the collection has been on display in the Princessehof museum in Leeuwarden.

Doutzen Kroes

(1985) 

Doutzen Kroes is an international top model. She was born and raised in Eastermar. She usually lives in her apartment in New York.

After passing her senior general secondary education (HAFU), she sent some vacation photos to the modeling agency Paparazzi in Amsterdam. She wanted to earn some extra money. It turned out to be more successful than she had expected, because within two years she was at the same level as other top models. Doutzen walks fashion shows for Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci and she is the new face of the Calvin Klein perfume line.

Doutzen received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Amsterdam in 2009. The jury unanimously agreed to grant the award because she had already reached the highest achievable level in a modeling career at such a young age. She was also named Miss Netherlands Positive, a title she owes to her positive image; she is down-to-earth, modest, and a role model for young models. In November 2010, she married DJ/rapper Sunnery James in Amsterdam. On January 21, 2011, their first child, a boy named Phyllon Gorré, was born.

Gerrit Hiemstra 

(1961)

Gerrit Hiemstra is a Dutch meteorologist with the NOS news. After studying at Wageningen Agricultural University, Hiemstra has been working in meteorology since 1986.

After his studies, he started working as a meteorologist at Meteo Consult in 1986. In 1995 he became head of the operational meteorological service of the KNMI at Schiphol Airport. In 1996, he started at DLV Adviesgroep in Wageningen with the development of meteorological advisory and consultancy activities for the green sector under the name DLV Meteo. At the end of 2001, these activities were continued in the new company WeerOnline.

Besides presenting the weather forecasts on the NOS Journal, Gerrit Hiemstra works as a meteorological consultant on various meteorological projects and is responsible for the meteorological training courses provided by WeerOnline.

Hendrik Bulthuis 

(1892 - 1948) 

He was a master barber and hairdresser, but his heart often belonged to water sports. That's where his ideals also lay.

"Hindrik, there's a strange boat on 'e Daam!" A boy is standing in the doorway of the barber shop. Barber Hindrik Bulthuis has just soaped up a customer. However, there will be no shaving. 

The young man's message has settled in so much that he quits his job and heads to Burgumerdaam. First, he wants to admire the foreign boat; the fellow can certainly help the customer.

This anecdote is told about Hindrik Bulthuis, a barber on 'e Legewei in Burgum. Being a barber was his profession, but his heart was often with water sports. That's where his ideals lay. For years, he had dreamed of enabling more people to participate in water sports. At that time, it was not for everyone. Boating people were elite people. Bulthuis made his dream come true by designing a boat that even the common man with at least one right hand could build and afford himself: the B.M.-er, named after the lake where he liked to stay. It did not become the 'prikkeboat' (expensive boat), as some people said, but a stable boat that sails with all winds and is hard to capsize. This refers to the large B.M.-er (16m2), which he first built in 1922. His boat was a success: the BM-er appeared more and more often on the Frisian lakes. However, Bulthuis did not stop at one boat. He also designed and built the small B.M.-er (12m2), a boat especially for the common man with a small budget.

In 1942, Bulthuis came up with his third boat: the "Bulthuisjol", a five-meter-long boat with a 10 m2 sail. The trilogy was complete. Bulthuis, as was his nature, did not use his inventions to improve himself. He never applied for a patent on his models.

Klaas Koopmans, painter

(1920 - 2005)

Klaas Koopmans is considered one of the most original painters of his generation in Friesland. He was born in Garyp in 1920, a village to which he has always remained faithful.

After primary school, his father trained him to be a house painter. Later he became an independent painter in the village. Drawing and painting was his great passion from his childhood years.

He received lessons from Joop Kloek from Twijzel and Herman Dijkstra from Groningen, but actually he formed himself and he developed an entirely expressionistic style of painting. The Frisian landscape and the people in his immediate surroundings were his most important subjects. He was also known for his idiosyncratic paintings and emotional drawings that he made of his other patients in the psychiatric hospitals 'Zuidlaren' and Frjentsjer. After WWII, Klaas became part of the Frisian group of painters 'In 'e line'.

The work of Klaas Koopmans can be found in the collection of Galerie Koopmans in Earnewâld; Museum Smallingerland in Drachten; Museum Belvédère in Oranjewâld near Heerenveen and Museum dr. Guislain in Ghent. In 2000, Klaas Koopmans was appointed "Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion".

Master de Vries 

(1854 - 1929)

Theodorus Marius Theresius van Welderen baron Rengers was a liberal politician and lawyer with a social conscience. He had an eye for new opportunities in agriculture. He also promoted the upstreaming of Frisian polder water and the draining of the Zuiderzee.

Publications by him have also appeared. After obtaining his law degree in Leiden, Rengers made several major trips and worked at the embassy in Paris.
In 1895, he came to live at Heemstra State in Oentsjerk (photo).

When he lived in Oentsjerk, beekeeping became his passion. He also noticed that many people had their money lying around without earning interest. Together with others, Van Welderen founded the cooperative Foarskot- en Sparbank Trynwâlden in 1896. That same year, he was involved in the establishment of the cooperative dairy factory Trynwâlden and surroundings. To be counted as a voting member, he bought a couple of cows and housed them with his worker. With the reformed minister Evers, a municipal sand excavation and a sheep fund were set up as employment projects.

In Belgium, he saw that the processing of flax in Friesland could be much improved. Thus, in 1898, a flax factory was established in Mûnein and later another in Noardburgum. Until 1920, many people worked in the factory in Mûnein, which remained in operation until 1968. In 1929, the factory in Noardburgum closed. But in that year, the municipality took over the company. However, in 1939, that flax factory had to close. Rengers had to sell Heemstra State and moved to The Hague. In Leiden, he lectured at the university. Towards the end of his life, he lived for a while on the Emmakade in Leeuwarden. He died there shortly after the Second World War. Near the Frouwepoort Bridge in Leeuwarden stands a bust of Van Welderen, made by Hildo Krop, who also made the statue of Piter Jelles Troelstra near the Oldehove. On the back of the bust are the lines of poetry:

In difficult times, you have believed in Friesland's future
You knew new paths, have walked them with us
And more beautiful is what you built here
And more lasting than stone
Is that a people honors your name
And remains grateful to you

In Oentsjerk there is still a plaque of the baron on the facade of the church on the Rengersweg. J.P. Wiersma wrote a biography about Rengers. The Rengerspark in Leeuwarden is named after the baron.

Theodorus van Welderen baron Rengers

(1867 - 1945)

Theodorus Marius Theresius van Welderen baron Rengers was a liberal politician and lawyer with a social conscience. He had an eye for new opportunities in agriculture. He also promoted the upstreaming of Frisian polder water and the draining of the Zuiderzee.

Publications by him have also appeared. After obtaining his law degree in Leiden, Rengers made several major trips and worked at the embassy in Paris.
In 1895, he came to live at Heemstra State in Oentsjerk (photo).

When he lived in Oentsjerk, beekeeping became his passion. He also noticed that many people had their money lying around without earning interest. Together with others, Van Welderen founded the cooperative Foarskot- en Sparbank Trynwâlden in 1896. That same year, he was involved in the establishment of the cooperative dairy factory Trynwâlden and surroundings. To be counted as a voting member, he bought a couple of cows and housed them with his worker. With the reformed minister Evers, a municipal sand excavation and a sheep fund were set up as employment projects.

In Belgium, he saw that the processing of flax in Friesland could be much improved. Thus, in 1898, a flax factory was established in Mûnein and later another in Noardburgum. Until 1920, many people worked in the factory in Mûnein, which remained in operation until 1968. In 1929, the factory in Noardburgum closed. But in that year, the municipality took over the company. However, in 1939, that flax factory had to close. Rengers had to sell Heemstra State and moved to The Hague. In Leiden, he lectured at the university. Towards the end of his life, he lived for a while on the Emmakade in Leeuwarden. He died there shortly after the Second World War. Near the Frouwepoort Bridge in Leeuwarden stands a bust of Van Welderen, made by Hildo Krop, who also made the statue of Piter Jelles Troelstra near the Oldehove. On the back of the bust are the lines of poetry:

In difficult times, you have believed in Friesland's future
You knew new paths, have walked them with us
And more beautiful is what you built here
And more lasting than stone
Is that a people honors your name
And remains grateful to you

In Oentsjerk there is still a plaque of the baron on the facade of the church on the Rengersweg. J.P. Wiersma wrote a biography about Rengers. The Rengerspark in Leeuwarden is named after the baron.

Tsjibbe Gearts van der Meulen

(1824-1906)

Tsjibbe Gearts van der Meulen was a famous Frisian writer and poet from the municipality. He passed away more than a hundred years ago, but his name still lives on in Burgum, not only because he is famous, the “Tsjibbe Geartsstrjitte”, but also through stories that are still told about him.

"A strange man," as he is still often called. In addition to being a writer and poet, Tsjibbe Gearts was also a clockmaker, bookseller, postal worker, printer, editor, publisher, and emigration agent. Tsjibbe Gearts was a true folk writer. He wrote plays and farces, lectures, epigrams, stories, songbooks, oratorio texts, and much more. With his friend Waling Dykstra, he made pieces for the Winterjûnenochten 1860-1862. He can be characterized as a romantic, but naive, with a playful spirit. His pieces lean towards the grotesque and he had a great admiration for the nobility. He was a freethinker and leaned towards the Enlightenment. He liked to mock the gloomy orthodoxy. In 1878 he started writing and publishing the "Weekblad voor Tietjerksteradeel en omstreken", later the "Bergumer Courant". In 1880 he got his own printing company in his building on 'e "Schoolstraat". That building no longer exists. But in 1903 Tsjibbe Gearts laid the first stone of the new company "De Motor" in the building Lageweg 4. The "Bergumer Courant", which had been published since 1890, was then printed there and his son Wigger Arnoldus van der Meulen managed the company. In 1922 the newspaper was taken over by Mr. Lakerveld and immediately afterwards by Johannes D. Keuning from Leens, printer and trader. Since 1938, the printing company and bookstore have been owned by the Doevendans family. Tsjibbe Gearts also made a trip to the United States and reported extensively on it; he also supported emigration.