VOC-warehouse 'Onder de Boompjes' - Hoorn

A bag of merchandise can be found on the facade of the right warehouse and the year 1606 is made of gold leaf. The left warehouse shows seventeenth-century VOC three-masters on a facing brick. What are we talking about? About the first building that the United East India Company had built in 1606 in Hoorn.

You can recognize the VOC warehouse 'Onder de Boompjes' by the brick buildings with sloping stepped gables. On the facades of the warehouses you can see images that are characteristic of that time. For example, the bag filled with pepper represents the warehouses that were intended for storing spices. Trade with the East Indies was mainly about spices, which were very valuable at the time. Pepper was even one of the reasons for the establishment of the VOC. It was used in medicine and in the kitchen.

The VOC fell into disrepair and the spice storage facility was used for grain storage. After the eighteenth century, many other functions were added. For example, warehouses were a home for soldiers, they served as a library, bicycle shop and much more. Since the restorations in 2005, the warehouses have been in good condition again.