Frietmuseum facts for kids
| Frietmuseum | |
The Gothic Saaihalle which houses the museum.
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| Established | 2008 |
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| Location | Bruges, Belgium |
| Type | Food museum |
| Owner | Eddy Van Belle |
The Frietmuseum (which means Fries Museum) is a special place in Bruges, Belgium. It's all about the history of potatoes and how Belgian fries are made. The museum proudly calls itself "the first and only museum dedicated to potato fries."
How the Museum Started
The Frietmuseum opened in 2008. It was started by a man named Eddy Van Belle. He had already opened two other museums in Bruges. One was Choco-Story, which teaches about Belgian chocolate. The other was Lumina Domestica, which showed his huge collection of 6,500 lamps.
Mr. Van Belle saw how popular Choco-Story was. He then thought about creating a museum for fries. He looked around and found that no other museum like it existed anywhere. This encouraged him to open the Frietmuseum.
Exploring the Museum Building
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The Frietmuseum is located in a very old building called the Saaihalle. This building is in the historic center of Bruges, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Saaihalle was built in 1399. It has a beautiful Gothic style.
For many years, this building was used by merchants from Genoa. They used it as their base in the 1400s. Later, it was a home for the Consul of Genoa in 1441. From 1578 to 1750, weavers used the building. Over time, it also became an inn, a cafe, a cinema, and a dance hall. Since 1978, it has been a bank and an exhibition space.
Before the museum opened, the building was carefully renovated for a year and a half. This included restoring its outside walls. No big changes were made to the inside of the building during this work.
What You'll See Inside
The museum has three floors for you to explore. On the ground floor, you can learn about the history of potatoes. This story goes all the way back to around 8000 BC in Peru.
The first floor tells the story of fries themselves. You'll discover how they started in Belgium. In the basement, there's a cafe where you can relax. The museum shows many interesting things. These include old photographs, artwork, and historical tools like potato peelers. You can also see machines used to make fries. There's even a video that shows you how to make the perfect fries!
See also
- National Heritage Site (Belgium)
