Enkhuizen: one big open-air museum!
No other city has as many national heritage monuments within walking distance of each other as Enkhuizen. As you stroll through Enkhuizen, you truly feel like you’ve stepped back in time. The legacy of the former Dutch Golden Age can be seen around every corner.
361 national heritage monuments
Within the old city walls, you’ll find more than 361 national heritage monuments, each with its own unique and fascinating story. Take a closer look at Enkhuizen and discover the impressive history of a Golden Age city with character and grandeur around every corner.
Discover the history
Enkhuizen is a city where time seems to have stood still in places, while at the same time, it has undergone tremendous development. The city centre still radiates the atmosphere of the Dutch Golden Age. Many beautiful historic buildings and defensive structures have been preserved.
Fortified town of Enkhuizen
Enkhuizen draagt al sinds het einde van de zestiende eeuw het karakter van een vestingstad. De wallen en grachten zijn nog altijd zichtbaar en vertellen het verhaal van een stad die meebewoog met groei, handel en veranderende verdedigingsmethoden. Ontdek hoe de Enkhuizer vestingwerken ontstonden en waarom ze nog steeds zo'n belangrijk onderdeel van de stad zijn.
Churches in Enkhuizen
Enkhuizen has a rich religious history that is still visible in the cityscape today. The city is home to a surprisingly diverse range of churches and religious communities, reflecting the thriving trading city that Enkhuizen became from the sixteenth century onwards. In addition to the imposing Late Gothic Westerkerk and the Zuiderkerk with its distinctive Zuidertoren, you will find hidden churches, a former synagogue, and characteristic church buildings belonging to, among others, the Lutheran and Old Catholic communities. Together, they tell the story of faith, tolerance, and a city that, throughout the centuries, attracted people from different countries and with different beliefs.
Canal cruise
Enkhuizen is more than a fishing town on the former Zuiderzee. The city also has a historic “Boerenhoek” (Farmers’ Quarter), with canals, ditches, and waterways that once connected the city farms with the surrounding fields in the polder. With Rondvaart Enkhuizen, you can cruise past centuries-old tea houses, farms, country retreats, workshops, and the city’s fortification walls with their monumental defensive gates.
Enkhuizen city walking tour
A city walking tour is the perfect way to discover this historic town. Thanks to its compact layout, you can explore Enkhuizen in a single day, with all the sights within walking distance of the train station and the harbors.
Zuiderzeemuseum
The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen brings to life the stories of the people who once lived around the Zuiderzee. See, hear, feel, taste, and smell what everyday life was like around the Zuiderzee before the Afsluitdijk transformed it into the IJsselmeer in 1932.
The rich history of Enkhuizen
History in brief:
Around the year 1000, two settlements stood on the site where Enkhuizen is now located: Gommerkerspel, which was situated further inland, and Enkhuizen, where the fishermen lived. The villages merged and were granted city rights in 1356 under the name Enkhuizen. It became one of the most important cities on the Zuiderzee. Many businesses established themselves in Enkhuizen, including sailmakers, ropewalks, and carpentry workshops for shipbuilding.
Through various expansions, the city roughly doubled in size, providing enough space for its growing population. In 1622, with almost 22,000 inhabitants, Enkhuizen was the fifth-largest city in Holland. This prosperity was partly due to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), both of which had important branches, known as “chambers,” in the city.
In the second half of the Dutch Golden Age, as merchants moved to Amsterdam in large numbers, the population declined. Around 1850, the city had only 5,000 inhabitants and became one of the “dead cities” around the Zuiderzee. The ambitious urban expansion at the end of the 16th century, including the Boerenhoek, was never fully built up. Fields and meadows remained within the city walls. Later, some buildings were even demolished so that farmers could once again cultivate the land.
At the end of the 19th century, Enkhuizen began to grow again. Conditions improved with the construction of a railway connection between Enkhuizen and Amsterdam. The rise of seed cultivation and the seed trade also gradually brought greater prosperity to the city. Today, Enkhuizen has more than 18,000 inhabitants—still fewer than during its heyday around 1625.
Enkhuizen as a Fortified Town
Treasures from the Past
Compact city with 361 national heritage monuments
Enkhuizen can rightly be described as a large open-air museum. As you walk through this historic Golden Age city, you encounter one national heritage monument after another. Enkhuizen is home to no fewer than 361 national heritage monuments! The city exudes the atmosphere of the former Zuiderzee era and the Dutch Golden Age, with its illustrious past.
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De Boerenboom
The rampart was designed by the mayor of Alkmaar, Adriaan Anthonisz, and is an example of the so-called old Dutch fortif...
Zuiderkerk
The 15th century St. Pancras or Zuiderkerk is a unique monumental building in the centre of the historic city of Enkhuiz...
De Weeshuizen
In the Westerstraat, the small old orphanage and the large new orphanage stand right next to each other. The annex looks...
Snouck van Loosenhuis
The Snouck van Loosen House is a prominent townhouse on the Oude Haven in Enkhuizen. The 18th-century section is the for...
Spuihuisje
The Spuihuisje is the former lock keeper's house, built above the passage to the Zuiderhaven on the Spui. The frieze mak...
Staverse Poortje
In the sea wall on the Wierdijk is the frame of a gate that was rebuilt in 1833 and used to be the connection between th...
De Westfriese Munt
At Westerstraat 125 is the Mint, the building where the VOC coins were minted. This happened alternately in Enkhuizen, H...
Waaggebouw
The Waaggebouw in Enkhuizen shows an image of the early Renaissance in the northern Netherlands. Even the original weigh...
Peperhuis
The former VOC warehouse The Peperhuis is part of the inner museum of the Zuiderzeemuseum. It is the oldest building of ...
Drommedaris
The Drommedaris, or Chain Gate, was built in 1540 as a city gate, part of the city wall that surrounded Enkhuizen at the...
Westerkerk
The Westerkerk or Sint Gommaruskerk is considered one of the 100 most beautiful national monuments in the Netherlands an...
Koepoort
De Koepoort is één van de twee overgebleven stadspoorten van Enkhuizen. Deze indrukwekkende poort uit de zeventiende e...
Station Enkhuizen
The monumental station building dates from 1885, the year that the Enkhuizen-Hoorn railway line was put into use. The lo...
Snouck van Loosenpark
The Snouck van Loosenpark is one of the most beautiful spots in Enkhuizen, full of peace and greenery. It is located nex...
Monumental Highlights
Staying overnight in a historic green setting
The former caretaker’s house in Snouck van Loosenpark is now home to Ingrid Mol and her family. Whether they still have the keys to all the houses in the park is something you can ask them yourself. Part of the villa has been converted into a B&B. How fancy is that?
Discover the monuments on a city walking tour!
A city walking tour is the perfect way to discover this historic town. Thanks to its compact layout, you can explore Enkhuizen in a single day, with all the sights within walking distance of the train station and the harbors.
Drommedaris tour
A journey through the tower: the story begins in 1540 with a smaller gateway that looked very different from the one we see today. We climb the old staircases as the Drommedaris grows and the years pass. Enjoy a view of Enkhuizen’s historic orange-tiled roofs before descending via the new staircase and the theater that the Drommedaris is today. Reservations can be made via info@drom.nl
Churches with a Story
The churches of Enkhuizen tell the story of a city that was one of the Netherlands’ most important trading centres in the seventeenth century. Impressive churches such as the Westerkerk and Zuiderkerk remind us of this prosperous period, when the city grew and churches were at the heart of daily life.
Hemony Carillons
Alongside Amsterdam and Utrecht, Enkhuizen is the only city in the world with more than one Hemony carillon. In summer, special carillon concerts can be heard in the listening garden near the Zuiderkerk.
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Zuiderkerk
The 15th century St. Pancras or Zuiderkerk is a unique monumental building in the centre of the historic city of Enkhuiz...
Westerkerk
The Westerkerk or Sint Gommaruskerk is considered one of the 100 most beautiful national monuments in the Netherlands an...
Doopsgezinde vermaning
The Mennonite church is of architectural-historical value: it is a representative example of a neo-Renaissance church.
De Librije
The Netherlands has only one seventeenth-century city library that has been preserved at its original location. That is ...
Churches and church services
Enkhuizen is home to many churches and religious communities. Some are rather inconspicuous at first glance, while others immediately catch your attention, such as the Zuiderkerk with its distinctive and striking Zuidertoren.
The Council of Churches is a partnership of ten churches in Enkhuizen that reflects on the meaning of life and puts faith into practice in everyday life.
They warmly welcome you to the services of one of the church communities, and certainly also as an interested visitor to one of the often monumental church buildings with their beautiful organs.
If you would like to attend a service, click the button below for an overview of all church services.
