Nederland - Den Ham, Kerkje Harkema

Not the most impressive, beautiful or oldest church, but most probably one of the most remarkable churches in the Netherlands is Kerkje Harkema. Around 1960, livestock farmer Albert Harkema became the owner of a monastery farm and the surrounding farmlands.

Harkema soon started with digging and expanding of the old moat around the farm and in miniature he imitated the head-neck-torso farm as a shelter for the ducks. Later on he constructed the tower, followed by the construction of a miniature version of the former hospice of the nearby Abbey of Aduard. He used 12.000 bricks from Belgium, the organ from the Dutch village of IJhorst and Maria-statues of from more southern places.

Forty years later his long cherished wish - building his own church - became reality. A hidden gem in the middle of nowhere, surrounded from all sides by more than 2.000 years old landscape. Next to the church is a teahouse, also built by Harkema.