Museum Het Leids Wevershuis

Museum Het Leids Wevershuis consists of one of the last remaining "weavers' homes" (1560) in Leiden, Netherlands. The exterior, the large antique loom (1830) and the interior, are testimony of the once flourishing textile industry (and trade) around Leiden, in particular during the 16th and 17th century, when many home weavers supplied the draper's guild with high quality woolen cloth.

Museum

The building and its antique interior are the museum. There is a small collection of modern hand-woven textiles. The museum has a weaver available most days to demonstrate the craft on a large loom. Products made during demonstrations are for sale.

The museum is a short walking distance from the old Draper's guild, part of Museum De Lakenhal (Dutch for Cloth Hall) today.

History of the building

Located on a spot which had always been used as a laborer's home, the house fell almost victim to a great plan to modernize the city in the 1960s (which never materialized due to opposition). It was never granted the rijksmonument status.

In the 1970s it attracted the attention of a small group of local historians and they formed ''Het Kleine Leidse Woonhuis'' in 1976 to save small old buildings in Leiden such as this one. The building was consolidated (not renovated) as a house in a neck-gable style around 1900. The mostly intact interior reflects living arrangements for workers in the early 20th-century in Leiden.
An original cellar exists under the house and parts of the interior date back to the 17th-century.

Today it is part of a group of small houses in a neighborhood of mostly cement and modern brick constructions from the 1960s and 1970s.

Occupants of the house, and their profession

An inscription in the narrow hallway of the house tells about the people who owned or rented the house, and their professions. Most dwellers worked in the textile industry.

# texts taken from "Wevers, huisbazen en ander volk (De geschiedenis van Middelstegracht 143)"
# Stichting Het Leids wevershuis, 2005
# Text Kees van der Wiel

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PlotArea = width:390 height:530 left:50 bottom:10

DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1560 till:2015
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1560

# there is no automatic collision detection,
# so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $col1=drabgreen
Define $col2=powderblue
Define $tab=90

PlotData=
bar:dwellers color:blue width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
from:1561 till:1574 color:$col1 shift:($dx,-7) text:(1561-1574)
from:1561 till:1574 color:$col1 shift:($tab,-7) text:linen weaver Cornelisz Jansz.

from:1581 till:1583 color:$col2 shift:($dx,-5) text:(1581)
from:1581 till:1583 color:$col2 shift:($tab,-5) text:linen weaver Claes Pietersz. # period unknown

from:1589 till:1626 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1598-ca 1626
from:1589 till:1626 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:(widow of) Pieter Jansz. farmer / butcher

from:1631 till:1671 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1631-1671
from:1631 till:1671 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:linen weaver Jan Woutersz. IJser and Annetgen Dirckx

from:1671 till:1676 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1671-ca 1676
from:1671 till:1676 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:saaidrapier (Eng?) Johannes Walckier and Jannetje Serruijs

from:1680 till:1684 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1680-1684
from:1680 till:1684 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:line weaver Johannes Heijmans

from:1692 till:1725 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1692-1725
from:1692 till:1725 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:opperman (Eng ?) Jan van Hoven and Gretha Koppen

from:1725 till:1728 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1725-? # period unknown

from:1725 till:1728 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:button maker Arent Laverman and Agnietje Spieringshoek

from:1748 till:1751 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:ca 1748 # period unknown
from:1748 till:1751 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:kettingscheerder (Eng ?) Pieter Genon and Pieternella Beister

from:1760 till:1763 color:$col2 shift:($dx,-3) text:ca 1760
from:1760 till:1763 color:$col2 shift:($tab,-3) text:Dirk Groenevelt # period unknown

from:1763 till:1767 color:$col1 shift:($dx,5) text:1763-1767
from:1763 till:1767 color:$col1 shift:($tab,5) text:peat carrier Steven van der Pluijm

from:1767 till:1803 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1767-1803
from:1767 till:1803 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:catechist Jan van Dissel with family and subtenants

from:1803 till:1812 color:$col1 shift:($dx,-5) text:1803-1812
from:1803 till:1812 color:$col1 shift:($tab,-5) text:L. Eruadis de Jonge

from:1812 till:1814 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1812-1814
from:1812 till:1814 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:weaver Johannis de Vos

from:1814 till:1833 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1814-1833
from:1814 till:1833 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:printer Pieter van der Hert

from:1846 till:1857 color:$col2 shift:($dx,-10) text:1846-1857
from:1846 till:1857 color:$col2 shift:($tab,-10) text:carpenter Abraham Delfos and Cornelia Sjardijn

from:1857 till:1859 color:$col1 shift:($dx,-5) text:1857-1859
from:1857 till:1859 color:$col1 shift:($tab,-5) text:merchant Paulus Schilt

from:1859 till:1861 color:$col2 shift:($dx,5) text:1859-1861
from:1859 till:1861 color:$col2 shift:($tab,5) text:Johan van der Laan

from:1880 till:1895 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:ca 1880-1895
from:1880 till:1895 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:joiner's assistant Pieter Jan Lens and Clasina van Hest

from:1895 till:1908 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:1895-1908
from:1895 till:1908 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:cigar maker Leendert Kos and Anna van Dorp

from:1908 till:1940 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1908-1940
from:1908 till:1940 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:machinist Ludovicus Groen in 't Woud and Catharina Spierenburg

from:1943 till:1946 color:$col2 shift:($dx,0) text:(1943)
from:1943 till:1946 color:$col2 shift:($tab,0) text:widow C.L. Rietbergen # period unknown

from:1963 till:2003 color:$col1 shift:($dx,0) text:1963-2003
from:1963 till:2003 color:$col1 shift:($tab,0) text:biologist L.R. Wijmenga

from:2005 till:end color:coral shift:($dx,-5) text:2005-now
from:2005 till:end color:coral shift:($tab,-5) text:museum

Gallery

File:Loom in Wevershuis Leiden 2.jpg, The antique loom (1830) which is still in daily use
File:Dishcloths woven in museum Het Leids Wevershuis 2.jpg, Dishcloths woven on the antique loom. Each cloth has a unique design, set by the weaver who completed the previous cloth.
File:Wevershuisje 100 Jaar De Stijl.jpg, Changing exhibits, here 100 jaar De Stijl (2017)

File:Wevershuisje - Leiden - Facade 2.jpg, Facade
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - achterhuis en waterput.jpg, Back home with well
File:Wevershuisje - Leiden - Heater.jpg, Heater
File:Wevershuisje - Leiden - Basement.jpg, Steps towards very shallow basement (crawling space). Also dried peat for heater
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - toilet.jpg, Toilet (modernized, originally just a ton)
File:Wevershuisje Leiden Dak Buiten 06.jpg, Most of the house is in the state after the last dweller left
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - dak buiten.jpg, Roof, partly moss-clad, and top of facade
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - dakpannen met schoorsteen.jpg, Roof and chimney
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - dakpannen.jpg, Roof tiles, note that all tiles are visible from within (Dutch:'onbeschoten dak')
File:Wevershuisje Leiden - dakpan.jpg, Roof tile (baked clay, weather-beaten)

File:Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg - Het spinnen, het scheren van de ketting, en het weven.JPG, Spinning wool, a larger-than-life painting of the wool trade in Leiden with a view of two small workers' homes, 1595, by Isaac van Swanenburg

References

External links

* incl
photos before and after consolidation

Video presentation of the museum

{{Museums in Leiden

Museums in Leiden
2005 establishments in the Netherlands
Weaving
21st-century architecture in the Netherlands