City information
Welcome to the beautiful North Holland city Haarlem Walk through the city with me and discover interesting facts and the most beautiful places in Haarlem. During the tour I will tell you about the history and the highlights. And of course I will show you the most beautiful places to take pictures! Before we start, a bit of history in a nutshell…Haarlem experienced an unprecedented boom in the period 1350-1450 thanks to the development of shipbuilding and especially the beer brewery. Beer is still brewed, nowadays in the Jopenkerk !
In the Golden Age it was an immigrant city. After the Spaniards took Antwerp in 1585, tens of thousands of Flemings left their country for economic and religious reasons, including numerous textile entrepreneurs and skilled workers. In 1622 Haarlem had almost 40,000 inhabitants, more than doubling within half a century. This made Haarlem one of the largest cities in Holland. The majority of them found work in the linen and silk industry, which had been brought to great prosperity by the Flemish.
Our starting point is at the statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster .