Museums, art and galleries

From a cultural-historical point of view, De Alde Feanen has a lot to offer, although the residents haven’t always had it easy. The tough and sometimes miserable existence eked out in the area is reflected in a number of De Alde Feanen’s smaller museums, such as the  Skûtsjemuseum, It Kokelhûs fan Jan and Sjut , Museum Ald Slot and Warten Museum. Grou Mineralogical Museum is particularly unusual, with it exhibition of rocks. 

De Alde Feanen National Park is also a great place for art lovers because water is an ever-present source of inspiration for so many artists. There are several galleries you can visit in De Alde Feanen, such as Galerie Koopmans in Earnewâld, where works by the famous Frisian expressionist Klaas Koopmans and his son Gosse Koopmans can be admired. In Grou, work by nautical artist Ad van Leeuwen is on display at the Ad Art en Design gallery. Het Pand in Grou holds exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, jewellery, glass art and numerous other art objects by artists from the wider area around Grou.

There are also artworks ‘in the wild’ in De Alde Feanen National Park. Perhaps the most famous work is the image of the skaters, a steel artwork on the water which refers to ‘The Earnewâld 100′, a skating race on natural ice. Three former winners were used as models for this work.