DE LOOIERIJ, North Brabant Province, The Netherlands

5Martijn d 5:00 PM Mar 14, 2016

History of tanning and leather
Great museum about the history of tanning and the leather making process. Guided tours are excellent in this authentic tannery dating from the 1890's.

4Leon Z 5:00 PM Nov 7, 2015

local history in an ancient tannery building in Dongen
We visited the museum "De Leerlooierij (the tannery)" in Dongen with friends this afternoon and got to know a lot about the history on this ancient craft that had it's highs in the beginning and middle of the previous century. The old building features a number of exhibits to show the flow of the process from the raw hides until the processed leather and apart from being very illustrative and informative it also shows how the workers in the past had to earn a living. Labour conditions were poor and the working days were long and it was not very pleasant work but an essential complement to the poor existence of the smallhold farmers of those days. The museum building is nicely restored and one of the 12 old tanning basins is still visible though a glass bottom. The top floor shows the drying process and the middle floor shows how the different pieces of leather were treated to a final product for use in shoes, boots, clothing and furniture up to the present day, partly with the aid of the Dongen-based Ecco company. There is also space for special exhibitions and part of the top floor is also used to explain about the history of the city of Dongen by the regional historic society. They also have a nice area to have drinks and even a family celebration is possible in this Ecco room.