Vleeshal (Meathall) Haarlem

Photo Rene de Vries

Vleeshal (Meathall)

Written by Chantal en Lotte

Photo Rene de Vries

One of the most beautiful buildings in Haarlem is the Vleeshal, on the Grote Markt. This museum is a part of the Frans Halsmuseum. Yearly there take several different kind of expositions place. We wrote this report in March 2000 and we hope you will come to Haarlem soon after reading our report. You should visit this beautiful museum as soon as possible. We want to thank the people of the Vleeshal very much for their information and their oral permission that we can use the brochures and photos we got from them for our internet report.

History
.

By courtesy of
(c) Vleeshal
.

Before 1602 a Meat hall was situated on the corner of the Spek street and the Warmoes street. However, this building did not had enough space anymore since more and more people came to Haarlem, refugees from the southern part of The Netherlands.
Meat sellers even had to sell meat on the street.
To prevent illness, the municipality decided to build a new meathall. Lieven de Key made two drawings for the new building and the municipality chose the most expensive one. They built the Vleeshal between 1602 and 1603. Architect was Lieven de Key.

By courtesy of
(c) Vleeshal
.

The Vleeshal was the only place in Haarlem where people were allowed to sell meat. Inside the new building were 40 work-benches; they were hired out to people who were members of the Society of Butchers.
There is a big hall and the building's front is in the shape of a stepped gable. It has cross vaults and an old-Dutch roof construction. Outside you will notice several statues of oxheads and sheepheads on the walls. So you will know in former days it was a meathall.
They used this building as meathall from 1604 till 1840. In 1798 people started to open their own butcher shops. Finally, when there was nobody left to sell meat inside the meathall, the building was sold and after 1840 it had several different functions: army depot, State Archives and exposition room.
Since 1967 the building is a part of the Frans Hals museum

By courtesy of
(c) Vleeshal
.

What can you expect?

As we described above, the Vleeshal is used for several kind of expositions. So it is a little hard for us to write down what you will see when you come to Haarlem to visit the museum. We cannot keep this site up to date for you, alas.
So, all we can do is to make a short summary of expositions for the year 2000:
Till 2 April you will see several paintings of the flock of shee, made by Menashe Kadishman. The paintings show the heads of sheep.
From 15 April till 12 June you can visit the exposition of "De Blauwe Lotus" from Herge (the drawer of Kuifje).
From 24 June till 20 August a resume exposition of the painter Kees Verwey
From 2 September till 20 October you will see different kinds of drawings, paintings, poetry and more. from Charlotte Mutsaers.
The address of the Vleeshal is Grote Markt 16
International phone number is +31 - 23 - 5115775

Entrance fees, all in Dutch guilders
.

De Tarieven	Frans Halsmuseum	Verweyhal and Vleeshal	Combination ticket
0-18 year	free	Gratifrees	free
18-65 year	10	7.5	12.5
groups , 65+ and CJP	7.5	5	9.5
Haarlem card, MJK	free	free	free
Society Rembrandt	free	free	free
Friends Frans Hals	free	free	free

Hours of opening

Monday till Saturday	11:00am till 5:00pm
Sunday and Festal Days	12:00 till 5:00pm
25 December and 1 January	closed