Nostalgiascapes and Images of the Netherlands On Tourism, Intangible Heritage and Nostalgia

Nostalgiascapes are specific places where a coherent and positive story about the past is told. This article discusses the Dutch Ellert and Brammert Open-air Museum in the province of Drenthe and the Dutch De Bruine Kroeg pub as nostalgiascapes where an attachment (endearment or vertedering ) for Dutchness is created. Dutchness is also represented in several places in other countries, such as Germany, the United States, Japan and China, where a stereotypical version of the Netherlands is displayed. This article discusses three forms of vertedering . Firstly, the article addresses the Western Netherlands (Randstad) inhabitants paternalistic view of the backward rural rest of the country (of which Drenthe is supposedly a prototype). Secondly, the article addresses the place of the Dutch positive self-congratulatory view of their national tradition of Dutch gezelligheid (coziness) in pubs and homes. Finally, the article examines the partly paternalistic view of Dutch old-fashioned quaintness displayed in some foreign countries based on stereotypes of Dutchness (wooden shoes, tulips, mills).