Historical Centre Leeuwarden

The Historical Centre Leeuwarden (HCL) is the information and activity centre for the history of Leeuwarden and its surroundings. Thousands of linear metres of historical documents, from the Middle Ages to the present, are preserved and made accessible here. Anyone who wants to know something about the history of Leeuwarden or its former inhabitants can visit the HCL. Knowledgeable staff help visitors search the archives, population registers, photos, building plans, newspapers and many other sources.

The Leeuwarden Historical Centre is much more than just an archive repository. In 2005, the management of the municipality of Leeuwarden's art collection was transferred to the HCL, and in 2007 the management of the Pier Pander Museum and the Pier Pander Temple, both located in the Prinsentuin, was added. Since 2010, the Oldehove tower has been managed by the HCL and furnished as a museum. Besides the permanent exhibition 'Stories of Leeuwarden', the HCL holds continuously changing exhibitions in its own building.

Activities

Often in cooperation with related institutions, the HCL organises various historical events, such as the annual Open Monument Day, city walks, courses and lectures. The HCL also has a wide range of programmes for education.

Organisation

Since 2015, HCL has formed one sector under Physical Domain with the so-called semi-static archive in the city office. The sector has around 20 employees (and around 100 volunteers), divided into two teams: Historical Information (the front office) and Conservation & Preservation (the back office).

The tasks of the Historical Information team include providing services in the public rooms, organising exhibitions, providing publications, educational activities, maintaining the website and reception tasks. The coordinator is Klaas Zandberg.

The tasks of the Preservation & Conservation team include making the collections of archives, library and image collection accessible, digitisation, management of collections and buildings, acquisition and art management.