Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Flickr Favourites: Traditional Costume of Urk, Holland


Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of Urk in The Netherlands. Urk is a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Urk was in the past an island in the Zuiderzee. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status, just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer. Later in the 20th century, sea-bed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder. Urk is still a fishing village and religious life has also traditionally been very important to Urk's inhabitants. The kraplap (i.e. bodice) is in Urk made of beautiful coloured silk with embroidered flowers on the front (called the "hartje" or "small heart"). The silver head iron that holds the lace cap with yolk coloured trim, is the oldest type in The Netherlands. The striped apron is the same as the one in Volendam.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.


1. Urkerdag 2010, 2. Urkerdag 2009, 3. Urkerdag 2010, 4. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago

And two picture postcards from my own collection.
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7 comments:

  1. dutch sistersMarch 22, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Love these old traditional costumes. Thanks for showing!

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  2. RelyMarch 22, 2011 at 6:04 PM

    Love them too... we must keep remembering our tradition and spreading them to the world!

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  3. Mitsy / ArtMindMarch 22, 2011 at 7:44 PM

    The name 'urk' reminds me of a children's television program. I can't remember whihc one though! I don't think it had anything to do with traditional costumes you described!

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  4. Rene'March 4, 2012 at 2:59 AM

    I live near Holland Michigan and am making an Urk hat for a friend. Your pictures help to get the details just right. Thanks so much! I grew up regularly seeing Dutch folk costumes from many different provinces. They are all so different and beautiful!

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  5. kraplapMarch 5, 2012 at 2:43 PM

    That is so nice to hear Rene ! You can see more Urk costumes on my postcard site: http://www.inoudeansichten.nl/ansichten/g1807-urk.html

    Hope that helps too :)

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  6. Kari BroadwayOctober 29, 2017 at 3:18 AM

    Any research on why some of the kraplaps have black only embroidery and others colored?

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  7. kraplapOctober 29, 2017 at 2:33 PM

    Hi Kari, here's a small explanation:
    In the late 19th century, the Urker women wore white kraplaps with black embroidered motifs for the Sunday and for special occasions. These were initially large and became smaller in the course of the twentieth century. After 1945, Urker women wore more and more colorful satin kraplaps with colored embroidery, on both weekdays and sundays.

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