Leven met de Dijk

• van 30 August 2025 t/m 3 October 2025
• Tuesday 10:00 – 17:00
• Wednesday 10:00 – 17:00
• Thursday 10:00 – 17:00
• Friday 10:00 – 17:00
• Saturday 10:00 – 17:00
• Sunday 10:00 – 17:00

The exhibition “Living with the Dike” will be on display at the Steam Engine Museum visitor center in Medemblik from Saturday, August 30th, to Friday, October 3rd. The exhibition shows how the West Frisian Circular Dike has been part of our daily lives for some 800 years. Admission to the exhibition is free (except Mondays) from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. If you have a Museum Card, please have it scanned at the ticket desk in the visitor center. The museum will be open during the exhibition’s opening weekend (August 30th and 31st). Regular ticket prices apply.

The exhibition “Living with the Dike” pays tribute to the 126-kilometer-long Omringdijk, which winds like a green garland through the North Holland landscape. Since time immemorial, this “dike of dikes” has protected people and animals from the raging waters.

Although it has lost its water-retaining function in many places, the dike remains a defining feature of the landscape, connecting people and communities on and within it. Cyclists, hikers, athletes, spotters, and many others gratefully use it for their walks along the dike. The dike is also a source of inspiration for landscape painters, poets, singers, and other creative minds.

Door loupers

The cultural group De Westfriese Deurloupers, organizer of this exhibition, has been promoting the cultural-historical significance of the Omringdijk and everything it embraces and connects for 25 years, under the motto “Go!” The exhibition is based on a collection of photographs taken by members of Fotocafé Alkmaar, supplemented by a series of drawings and texts by Jan Scarpa, a native of Zaanstad. Visual installations, stories, and music pay tribute to the dike.

Medemblik Steamfair September 20 & 21

This weekend, due to extra activities, regular admission prices apply to all visitors!