Volendam

Volendam began as the harbour of Edam. In 1357 the people of Edam dug a shorter canal to the Zuiderzee with a separate harbour, and the old one was dammed and used for land reclamation. Farmers and fishermen settled on it, forming a new community called Vollendam or Follendam — the "full dam". For centuries the village lived from fishing on the Zuiderzee, and its Catholic inhabitants walked to Edam to worship until their own church, the Sint-Vincentiuskerk, opened in 1860 after strong protests.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Volendam drew a community of foreign artists, captivated by village life and the costume; their paintings spread its image abroad, and works inspired by the village now hang in museums including the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and Tate Britain. In 1932 the Afsluitdijk closed off the Zuiderzee, which became the IJsselmeer, and in the 20th century tourism became the main source of income for many of the old Zuiderzee towns.

On New Year's night of 2000–2001, sparklers set off a short, intense fire at a party in the café De Hemel; 14 people died and 200 were seriously injured. The disaster left a deep mark on the community. Today Volendam is part of the municipality of Edam-Volendam and one of the best-known tourist towns in the Netherlands.

The women's costume of Volendam, with its high, pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognisable of all Dutch traditional dress and appears on countless postcards and posters. It is no longer everyday wear for most residents, but it remains central to the village's identity and is worn for special occasions and at the Volendammer Kermis, the village fair held since the 18th century on the first weekend of September. Studios on the harbour dress visitors in costume for photographs.

Volendam is also famous for its music. The local style is called Palingsound — literally "eel sound", after the village's fishing heritage. The Cats were popular in the Netherlands and abroad in the 1960s, BZN followed from the late 1960s, and in 1995 BZN sang a duet with the ten-year-old Jan Smit, who became a star in his own right.

The village is traditionally Roman Catholic, and the church remains deeply connected to its culture; many missionaries and bishops grew up here, though church attendance is falling. Most residents still speak the Volendam dialect, a variant of West Frisian, in daily life. Football means FC Volendam, which has regularly played in the Eredivisie. The costume, the music and the church together give the village an identity distinct from its neighbours.

Volendam had about 22,700 inhabitants in 2021, and with Edam it forms the municipality of Edam-Volendam. Tourism shapes much of its economy — the harbour, its shops, fish stalls, cafés and photo studios — and the village is linked to Amsterdam and the surrounding towns by several bus lines and the N247 road.

The tourist harbour and the residential village behind the dyke lead different lives. On summer afternoons the dyke-top street fills with day-trippers from Amsterdam; in the lanes below, life follows the rhythm of a small Catholic community, with its churches, clubs, football and music.

Large numbers of visitors arrive in the middle of the day and leave by evening, so the harbour is calmer early and late. In summer the ferry to Marken shuttles back and forth across the water every half-hour or so, and in early September the village fair brings residents out in costume. The memory of the 2001 New Year's fire remains part of the community's life.

Volendam is famous for smoked eel, gerookte paling, and fish shops along the harbour smoke and sell it, some with their own smokehouses and delicatessen counters for taking it home. The village's music even took its name from the eel.

The fish stalls and snack stands on the dyke also sell Dutch herring, smoked fish of other kinds and other seafood snacks. The old fish auction, the Visafslag, still stands on the harbour, and at the village fair old crafts such as eel smoking are demonstrated.

Cheese comes from next door: Edam cheese, traditionally sold in flat-ended spheres with a coat of red paraffin wax, takes its name from the neighbouring town, where a re-enacted cheese market is held for visitors every Wednesday in July and August. In the 16th century the cheese market was the mainstay of Edam's economy, and local farmers brought their cheeses to it on little boats. Prices along the harbour front are geared to tourists, and the fish shops are often the best value.