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Amsterdam museum details adoption of the Turkish tulip

In the heart of downtown Amsterdam, where the world famous tulip markets are housed, is the Amsterdam Tulip Museum. The agricultural staple has a history that, over the centuries, brought riches and ruin to many.

This small private museum was established by a Dutch company, Fluwel, also active in the United States trading in flower bulbs. The museum is run by Sjoerd van Eeden, a former history teacher. Van Eeden enjoys sharing the history of the tulip with visitors from all over the world.

The name “tulip” is thought to have originated from the Turkish empire, where the flower was grown in the royal gardens. The Turkish turban – which the tulip shape mimics – is thought to be where the name began.

I did a little online research, and Answer.com stated, “The Turkish word for gauze, with which turbans can be wrapped, seems to have been used for the flower because a fully opened tulip was thought to resemble a turban.” This reflects the same history pointed out at the Amsterdam museum.

After the flower’s popularity spread from Turkey into Holland, it was there that it created an obsessive craze called “Tulipomania.”
During the 1600s fortunes were made and lost when businesspeople speculated on the flower. Videos on the history of Holland’s most famous flower, from its ancient wild origins on a windswept mountain (Central Asia) to its present-day scientific methods of cultivation (growing and harvesting) in the fields of Holland, are exhibited here.

The flower’s popularity found its way into artwork, such as the lovely items found in the museum gift shop. Examples of patterns created from the time of “Tulipomania” are shown in the museum.
The museum shares a bit of how this Dutch mainstay was cultivated prior to mechanization. Photos on-site and online show workers planting and harvesting by hand, laying a cover of willow branches over the bulbs and bulbs dug by hand being placed in baskets to be taken to town by truck.

Located in the heart of the city, the Amsterdam museum is housed in a shop where everything tulip can be purchased, from bulbs to vases to dishes, and antique tiles with lovely designs incorporated. The museum gift shop offers a large assortment of cards, posters, purses, pillows and other household items with tulip motifs available.

Visitors stop here to purchase bulbs and tools. Different bulbs are available at different times of the year, and to take a bulb back to the States requires a special sticker showing that it is safe for import. Before or after shopping, visitors may descend to the basement museum for a few Euros and enjoy some interesting history about this flower that literally made and destroyed men’s fortunes.

The museum is located in the Jordaan district, just across the bridge from the Anne Frank House on the opposite side of Prinsengracht Canal.

The museum is open every day from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Check out www.amsterdamtulipmuseum.com for details if you plan to travel in the region anytime soon.

And for information about how to raise tulips, check out www.fluwel.com

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.

1/20/2010