De Rijp is a village and former island in the Dutch province of

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

, and lies about 10 km northwest of

Purmerend Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. Purmerend's population grew relatively slowly until the 1960s ...

, between the Schermer and the

Beemster Beemster () is a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The Beemster is the first polder in the Netherlands land reclamation, reclaimed from a lake, the water extracted by windmi ...

polders. Before the

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

ing of the lakes surrounding it, De Rijp was famous for its

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

industry. Today it is known for its characteristic rijksmonuments, which include some of the oldest wooden houses of

. De Rijp was a separate municipality until 1970, when it merged with Graft. The statistical area "De Rijp", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 4020.Statistics Netherlands (CBS)
''Statline: Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2003-2005''
. As of 1 January 2005.

History

Before the lakes on either side of De Rijp were pumped dry, De Rijp was a port town with merchant ships that travelled the high seas on trade routes. The town had a medium-sized herring fleet, and searched for whales with larger ships. Rijper vessels travelled regularly to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

. After the success of the polders near Alkmaar and Egmond, plans were formed to make polders of the other lakes in North Holland, including the ones on both sides of De Rijp. In 1605 De Rijp split off from Graft and became a relief center for the effort to pump the

dry. The project was run by the architect-engineer Jan Leeghwater, who had been born in De Rijp and even designed the

Town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

. The coat of arms of De Rijp show two herrings which symbolize the importance of the fishing industry for the town. The polders meant that the Rijper ships needed to travel much further before they were on open water. The herring industry remained important however and the stained glass window in the Grote Kerk with the city coat of arms of Enkhuizen, donated by the cooper's guild, shows the barrels that were made for use by the herring packers in De Rijp in 1655. The town had suffered a devastating fire in 1654 which wiped out the southern side of the town and destroyed the church, leaving only the north side (including the city hall) intact. The herring ships had been undamaged and it was their industry that enabled the town to rebuild the church. When it was completed in 1655, various guilds such as the coopers, and other towns of North Holland donated stained glass windows with their

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic ac ...

in 1655. These included Medemblik,

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Monnickendam Monnickendam () is a city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies on the coast of the Markermeer, about southeast of Purmerend. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city ...

, Edam, Enkhuizen, and

. This group of stained-glass windows are considered national treasures and were restored in 1993-1995 when safety glass with a fine mesh of metal was installed on the outside of the window frames but left open at the edges to prevent condensation. Similar safety measures have been taken for the stained-glass windows of Gouda. File:Interieur, gebrandschilderd glas, raam 3- "De vrijwillige kuiperij", detail B3 - De Rijp - 20362689 - RCE.jpg, Glass 3 (detail) showing two coopers making barrels File:Interieur, gebrandschilderd glas, raam 4- "Haringvisserij", detail B3 - De Rijp - 20362712 - RCE.jpg, Glass 4 (detail) showing the herring fleet

In fiction

Part of the 2021 film '' De Grote Sinterklaasfilm: Trammelant in Spanje'' was filmed in De Rijp.

References

* ''Glazen Verhalen: de Grote Kerk te De Rijp'', edited by Nelly de Goede, Stichting De Rijper Glazen, De Rijp, 2009

External links

* Former municipalities of North Holland Populated places in North Holland {{northHolland-geo-stub