I went to Holland on business in early July, 1999.  The trip was nothing to do with stained glass or the Internet (sadly), but I did have half a day off.  A friend over there told me that he had seen this interesting looking work shop in Alkmaar (about 30 minutes from Amsterdam by Intercity express).

Intrigued, I nipped up there camera in hand.  The thought was to wander around the town, take a few photographs for the e-zine, and find the work shop if I could.


At first I was somewhat disappointed.  The best window I saw in the first hour was this one, in a pub.   In Holland, most town centre homes seem to have lost their stained glass.   This window is typical of much of what is left.

Then things started to look up.   I found this window still intact over a shop doorway.  I asked for permission$to photograph it and struck up conversation with the proprietress  In the process I discovered that she knew the whereabouts of the workshop I was looking for!

What a fantastic place it turned out to be. Roel (the owner) made me very welcome indeed and showed me round everywhere.   The workshop was adorned with all these rebuilt windows shown here, and he had a huge stock of new and second hand glass.

He asked me where he can get some traditionally made English muffle. He had the new American (Wissmach) English muffle, and some hand made English muffle.  Fantastic glass!  Anybody know the answer?

He had a rebuild on the bench so we got talking about prices and the market place.  Its no better there than here I am afraid.  There is work, but his prices did not seem any better than they are here in Norfolk. However, they seem to be enjoying a bit of a boom at the moment, whereas most people here see the market as depressed.

He gave me permission to photograph the windows in his workshop.  What a welcome, and what splendid work he is doing.  He was rebuilding a panel on his bench, and I would defy the average artist to have sorted the new glass from the old!

Then I went wandering again:



Typical of much of Holland's stained glass, this window (right) was over a smart, modern bath room shop's door way.  The proprietor told me that he had restored the shop front, which had been modernised without taste by his father after the war.  The new windows, a set of six, were made by Roel.

For those of you who might like to contact Roel, here are his details (updated Sept 2001):

Loose translation of the line at the bottom: Sometimes we work away from the premises, so it is advisable to telephone before traveling.  A very nice person, well worth a visit.
They have a web site: http://www.dealkmaarseglazenier.nl

Here's the text of an e-mail we received in Sept '99
From: Ronald en wand
To: editor@stainedglassnews.co.uk
Sent: Monday, September 20, 1999 8:40 PM
Subject: stained glass from Alkmaar
Hi there. I am Ronald, I am a colleague of Roel from De Alkmaarse Glazenier. We met each other a few months ago in Alkmaar and you gave me this Internet site. It's very nice and I was very pleased that our stained glass and our shop was on your site. You made very nice pictures in Alkmaar. I hope everybody visit this Internet site.
Good luck and Bye,bye.
Greetings from Ronald en Roel.
De Alkmaarse Glazenier from Holland.