If you are looking for accommodation in Huissen, you can choose where to stay based on one question: Which side of the town would you like to get to know better? Roman history, the townscape, the monastery and horticulture each offer a different focus. There are also guided tours, events and routes, each suited to its own kind of itinerary.
Roman traces in the museum and district
The Museum Hof van Hessen’s permanent exhibition, “Leven aan de Limes” (“Life on the Limes”), is dedicated to the lives of people living on the northern border of the Roman Empire. It also displays 2,000-year-old jewellery, tableware and everyday objects. The exhibition thus offers a glimpse into life on the Limes, while the objects add concrete examples from everyday life. The Hof van Hessen town museum is located in the centre of Huissen and displays archaeological finds and historical objects.
In the Loovelden district, the remains of Roman farmsteads, grain silos and burial grounds lie beneath the built-up area. The artwork Forës draws on one archaeological findspot: two steel temple doors, each two metres high, mark the exact spot where a Roman grave was found. The remains beneath Loovelden and the artwork offer two distinct points of connection with Huissen’s Roman past.
Town history and monastery architecture
The street pattern of this 700-year-old town has remained unchanged to this day, despite the destruction caused by bombing during the Second World War. This long view of the past can be paired with another stop: in 1858, the first Dominican friars moved into the monastery in Huissen, which was still a country house at the time. The architect Pierre Cuypers (1827–1921) built the U-shaped monastery complex and the chapel. The town plan and the monastery thus tell different chapters of local history, without one replacing the other.
Horticulture as a distinct focus
The Mea Vota horticultural museum – Tuinbouwmuseum De Hofstèèj – features a permanent exhibition of the tools and equipment Huissen’s gardeners once used to work the land and grow their produce. The focus is therefore on practical work and the tools used. The greenhouses are used mainly to grow grapes using traditional methods. If you are choosing what interests you, Mea Vota offers a different perspective from the Roman finds: here, horticulture and cultivation methods take centre stage.
Planning guided tours, dates and routes
The Exoduswandeltocht is a non-competitive memorial march. It commemorates the evacuation and return in autumn 1944 and spring 1945, and takes place annually on the last Saturday in June; in exceptional cases, the date may differ. If you plan to take part, check the date for the relevant year. The Historische Kring Huessen also offers guided tours of Huissen for large or small groups. They take place on request, by prior arrangement and for a small fee.
Every Sunday at 10:00 a.m., a service with the chapel community is held at Dominicanenklooster Huissen. The Kloostercantorij sings, followed by an opportunity to meet and enjoy coffee. Everyone is welcome to attend. As arrangements may change, check the latest information before your visit. Regular events are also held at Landgoed de Brouwketel in the floodplains of the Nederrijn near Huissen; everyone is welcome.
To find your way around the centre, a green pedestrian route leads directly to Langestraat and Huissen town centre from the Achter de Gracht car park and the Hof van Huesse parking garage. Another way to experience the surrounding area is the 9 km cycling route between Huissen and Angeren, which runs along field edges rich in butterflies. The first day’s stage of the 4Daagse also passes through Huissen, but the route may change from one edition to the next. So check the current route if you want to plan your trip around this event.
For the broader travel overview: Lingewaard.
