The traditionally built school in the hamlet of Zuid-Eierland, one of the residential areas of the Eierland polder, was founded in 1912.
\nIn 1978, after the school had been closed down and following several vacant years, the building became the art studio, exhibition space and living area of the painter, Niek Welboren.
\nWith his own hands and with much respect for the history, the interior was restored and the building was adapted for the new artistic function. Or better put, the new function was artistically adapted.
\nRestoration of the interior meant: eradicate all traces of \u201cthe hardboard generation\u201d and reinstate the original carpentry trim. Nearly everything, except for a few corners, which is now newly visible, was stripped, scraped, restored, and carefully painted.
\nAfter years of work and commitment to conservation, a unique and attractive whole has emerged. Furthermore, the history of the school \u2013 which slowly but unavoidably presented itself to the new owner \u2013 has been given a permanent place in the School Museum. The Museum\u2019s collected past forms an essential part of the permanent exhibition at The Eiland Galerij.
\nThe school\u2019s history is closely connected to the changes of the times and the mechanical developments in agriculture.
\nThe Eierland polder, which was diked in 1835 and is still an important agricultural area, once had three schools for primary education: De Cocksdorp (1841), Midden-Eierland (1877) and Zuid-Eierland, where a small school already existed in 1849.
\nThe schools were located walking distance from the farms and the farm labourers\u2019 homes.
\nThe Midden-Eierland school (3.5 km away as the crow flies) was considered \u201cthe competitor\u201d, for in the polder, the moving house of one labourer\u2019s family could determine a school\u2019s number of pupils, which was directly connected to the number of teachers and the functioning of the school\u2026
\nThe heyday of the school was in the 1930s. There were then 3 teachers and more than 80 pupils filled 3 classrooms \u2013 and gave life to the neighbourhood. Later it became again \u2013 just as it was in the beginning \u2013 a \u201cTwo man school\u201d. Then most of the children only went to school for six or seven years; they provided important labour from a young age.
\n\u201cThe good old times\u201d (?) of many farm labourers and their often large families, are long gone. Today, walking to school is almost inconceivable…Walking to school in clogs has become history, just like the wooden benches, the books of Ligthart, Scheepstra and Jetses. Who still tells a story by the Isings or Koekoek wall panels?
\nIn the School Museum, you can still daydream away at the old pictures, as the general and local objects that have been collected honour the school history. Not only in the School Museum, but also in other exhibition spaces, the original form has remained visible.
\nThe entire building has thus despite, or rather thanks to its new function retained much of the original structure and atmosphere.
\nThe school and the schoolteacher\u2019s house represent a past era and a part of the polder\u2019s history. In 1993 both properties were given historical monument status. For the project\u2019s initiator, Niek Welboren, the recognition is a reward for his efforts, especially when one considers that demolition of the school for housing was once an option.<\/p>\n
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The former school of Zuid-Eierland The traditionally built school in the hamlet of Zuid-Eierland, one of the residential areas of the Eierland polder, was founded in 1912. In 1978, after the school had been closed down and following several vacant years, the building became the art studio, exhibition space and living area of the painter, lees meer ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-443","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eilandgalerij.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}