Past, present and future

The Biesbosch Museum explores the past, present and future of the Biesbosch. In seven museum spaces and six cabinets, the history of t Biesbosch from the St. Elisabeth Flood is exhibited in chronological order. Above all, the Biesbosch Museum shows how man earned a living throughout this period and determined the way the Biesbosch evolved through his actions and inactions. Several walking and cycling routes through the Noordwaard have been set out starting from the Biesbosch Museum Island. It is also the starting point for boat tours through the Biesbosch National Park.

Dutch salmon back on the map

The Biesbosch Museum Island also introduces you to a pearl from the Dutch culinary heritage: Dutch salmon. Until the last century, salmon was the main fish caught in the Verdronken Waard. The museum clearly shows the scope of these operations: 100,000 salmon were caught in the best years! A somewhat exaggerated legend states that serving girls were allowed salmon a ‘mere’ three times per week.

The museum also shows how stake net, drift net and seine fishing worked. The hengst in Hengstpolder refers to salmon fishing. Professional fishermen called the salmon who returned to the sea after mating hengsten or ‘stallions’. The Hengstpolder and Gat van den Hengst (stallion’s pass) are reminders of that time. The polder is now a wonderful natural reserve with goat’s beard, brown knapweed, ragged robin, great burnet, greater burnet-saxifrage, and pepper-saxifrage. The beautiful flowers in the Hengstpolder delight the eye. This is where we can find Northern bedstraw with its tiny white blooms, which is very rare in our country.

Around 1925, there was virtually no salmon left. The Biesbosch had become too silted up, with countless obstacles like weirs and locks. Intensive seine fishing proved the end. But that’s about to change! In September 2018 the Haringvliet locks will be cracked open and we will be able to see Dutch salmon in the Biesbosch once again. It will put Dutch salmon back on the map.

The architecture of the Biesbosch Museum Island with its hexagonal pavilions has received national and international awards and is well worth a visit in and of itself.