A work trip can always create an opportunity to explore something new. I’m starting a new chapter, stepping away from employment and offices and embarking on the journey of freelancing. I have no clue how it will be and if it will work, but I’m giving myself this year to try it. For me it means reaching out to new and familiar tourism contacts in my search for work. One of these led me to Europe’s waterways, leading tourists along the Rhein on river ships. But before I can start, there is a lot of training involved and this all started in my own backyard: the Netherlands. I traveled to Arnhem for the year’s kick off, an impression of the ship and a first meetup with new colleagues.
I don’t think I’d ever been to Arnhem before, other than passing through on a train perhaps, so I took my chance to get to know something about this city. It’s not a huge place with just over 167.500 inhabitants, but it’s still the Netherlands’ 13th largest city. Besides, it played a big role in operation Market Garden, an attempt to reach Germany by the allies during the second world war. And this story relates to the story of a city I’m studying: Nijmegen. But my trip to Arnhem started in the basement.
Once upon a time, before the destruction of the war, Arnhem had some beautiful merchant houses. The city gate that led into what is now the Rijnstraat was close to the harbor. The parking space across from the gate is painted blue and made “wavy” to remember the water. Goods would enter the city here to be stored in the tall houses. The merchants would do their business on the ground floor, live on the higher floors and have storage in the attic and basements. And this last part has survived through the ages. Accompanied by a guide you can enter the 14th century city underground. The municipality has opened the basements and connected them all, allowing us to walk into the past.
From the 14th century Arnhem started to use more bricks to replace the former wooden houses. Our guide explained bricks were discovered in Rome, when they noticed the clay in the Tiber river would dry and get rock hard at low water. The Betuwe region close to Arnhem had plenty of clay and a brick industry started in the area. Underground you can see the bricks actually stem from this era. They are all of different sizes. At that time there was no mold to form perfectly identical bricks. We even see some bricks that are completely black. They were probably left in the fires for too long.
On the floor we saw the leftover stones and bricks. They’d put whatever they had left on the floor and therefore it was a collection of different types. Only one basement had a different floor: the butcher’s basement. We saw they even used to work in some of the basements. They all had little niches for candles or oil lamps. In most spaces it was just enough to see where to put the goods, but in one spot they were very close together, most likely to create enough light to work. A huge basement had many spots to store wine barrels. Even the duke of Gelre stored his wine there. In the 1920s an artist made some paintings on the wall to remember this fact.
We also saw many staircases from different ages. Most are now closed off and no longer lead to the street. But in the old days the goods would come down via entrances at the street level. There was however one wooden staircase that leads into someone’s house. At some point in time the owner used his basement as a trash collection point. He’d just throw down his trash from the door, but he though the staircase was taking up too much space. Therefore he sawed off the bottom end, so he could fill it up with more trash. Imagine the smell that must have come from there!
A keen observer might see evidence of the basements above the ground. In the Rijnstraat you can see plaques in the street with dates on them. They refer to the basements below. There are also some emergency exits that lead to modern day Arnhem. One of them is shared with a restaurant. We had a look at it underground. It still smelled like the fire from a year ago, that happened nearby. The smell got trapped. To the left was the emergency staircase, to the right we saw the tables of the restaurant. We exited through a main entrance, which surprisingly led through a tunnel into the modern Rozet building; a library and cultural center. In the basement we could explore the display cases with art and objects from Arnhem’s history.
Many medieval houses may not have survived, but that doesn’t mean there is no pretty architecture left. We went inside the office at the St. Petersgasthuis, which has functioned as a hospice since the 13th century! It’s been completely renovated and has a little exhibition on the ground floor. As a religious institution, it was built with beautiful wooden arches, which can be seen inside. The tree trunks used were put in water first to prevent them from warping. This particular building had money, because some parts had beautiful woodwork or sculptures. There’s some art and information as well. A bit further on stands an abandoned hotel. The building is beautiful and was bought by some people with the expectation their children could turn it into a profitable business. The kids must have had other interests because the building has been empty for a while.
During my training weekend I had a little bit of time to walk through the center. I love how many shops and cosy cafés there are. I also paid a visit to the Airborne Museum at the Bridge, a small information center about the battle of Arnhem. It is located with a beautiful view of the John Frost bridge, named after the British general that reached the bridge during Market Garden. The volunteers shared information with a lot of enthusiasm and I saw some videos and photos relating to the operation and its people. A few panels showed the perspective of priests who came along with the troops for spiritual support. I liked reading about some more personal perspectives to the battle and the situation. The fighting in Arnhem destroyed the city. The Nazis managed to maintain control and take the British and Polish troops prisoner. The people of Arnhem were evacuated and their houses looted and/or destroyed. Despite all this, Arnhem has become a really nice city to visit and even managed to keep a few key landmarks that worth seeing. Perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed it all if I’d just walked through, but the guide and volunteers at the museum give the city context and keep the memories alive.
