Sepia Saturday - Alkmaar

Symbolic or not, Alan's theme for this week consists of a picture showing a crowd, an arriving sea ship, a tug boat and a vessel that looks like a river barge. With Alan on the high seas(?) he leaves us in the capable hands of Kat Mortensen.

Although The Netherlands may be regarded as a seafaring nation, I have to admit that I have no photo's in my shoe boxes reflecting that. However, I did find a picture postcard of the center of the city of Alkmaar. And it is showing two of the elements I was looking for namely a crowd and a barge. The card belonged either to my mother or to my mother-in-law. I clearly omitted to make proper inventory notes here when I obtained this card!

A crowd gathering on the Waagplein in Alkmaar with
the rear of a barge to the left.

The card has never been mailed to anyone. On the rear it only says in red print: P. Delemarre, Alkmaar, Nadruk verboden meaning that reprint was prohibited. Judging by the clothing people are wearing, I guess the picture was made some time during the 20s or 30s of the past century. Obviously these people were there for a purpose. They are all looking towards the photographer. Why? I haven't got a clue.

Today the situation is very much the same. Houses can still be recognized.
The street to the right, on the other side of the canal, is the Mient.

The name Waagplein literally means Weighing Square. It was (since 1593) and is the place where cheese is weighed. These ball shaped Gouda and Edam cheeses are produced by local farmers. They are visible on the first picture and on the one below. Trading takes place in the city every Friday morning during summer. For more info on the cheese market, please click here.

Carrying cheese in Alkmaar

I had the good fortune that a couple of weeks ago I received a pre WW2 photo album from my friend John D. Among many others was the picture shown above. It shows members of the cheese carrier's guild. On the left hand side of the Google screen dump, you see a canal with a bridge at the end. The slightly overexposed photo below is taken from that bridge and shows the Waag building.

Waag building

For more stories about ships, crowds and/or the sea, please see the Sepia Saturday site!

Update Oct. 12, 2012: The Alkmaar Archives did inform me that the first picture probably was made during the installation of a renewed wooden statue of a trumpet player (klaroenblazer). That event took place during the summer of 1923. The Algemeen Handelsblad of Sunday May 6 of that year already mentioned this upcoming occurrence.