Museum Het Hoogeland

Winterswijk is a town in the far east of Gelderland, in the region called the Achterhoek, on the German border, and it has a more varied landscape and history than most visitors expect. Museum Het Hoogeland is a museum of local history in a historic building in the town, and it is the kind of place where a visit helps to explain the area before you go out into it. Visitors should check its current exhibitions and opening hours with the local tourist information.

The region's story is the subject. Winterswijk lies on a ridge of higher ground with a very different geology from the rest of the Netherlands. Beneath the surface, rocks from the Triassic period, about 240 million years old, come close to the top, and in the Winterswijk quarry they have yielded some of the most important fossils in north-western Europe, including the remains of marine reptiles and fish from a shallow sea that covered the area. The quarry is a protected site that can be visited by arrangement, and a local museum would be expected to give space to this subject and to the finds from it. Archaeological discoveries and everyday objects from later times complete the picture of life in the district.

The human history is also rich. The landscape of small fields bordered by hedges, tree lines and small woods, known as a coulisse landscape, was shaped by farming over centuries, and the villages and hamlets were traditionally linked by weaving and textile work in the nineteenth century. The town is also associated with the painter Piet Mondrian, who lived in Winterswijk as a boy, when his father worked as a headmaster, and a museum in the town is devoted to him. Border life has always been important, with close ties to the neighbouring German towns, and trade and smuggling across the frontier are part of local memory.

Winterswijk has attractions beyond the museum. The Markt and the Stadhuis form the centre of town, the Sint-Stephanuskerk is the main church, and the surrounding nature reserves, such as the Korenburgerveen, a raised bog, offer walking and birdwatching. Kasteel Ruurlo and other castles of the Achterhoek are within cycling distance, and the cycling network crosses the border into Germany.

The museum suits visitors interested in local history, geology and heritage, and it makes a good rainy-day stop before a day of cycling. Allow an hour, and confirm the opening times in advance.