Memories of the tanners' quarter

From times immemorial, the leather industry was concentrated in the Jekerwartier. Just as the other important branch of industry in Maastricht, cloth weaving, the tanning process depended on running water in various stages of production.
The various arms of the Jeker served this purpose in the southern portion of the mediaeval town. Names of streets in this quarter, such as 'Grote Looiersstraat', 'Kleine Looiersstraat' and 'Witmakersstraat' recall former days.
In the basements of several houses in the Grote en Kleine Looiersstraat are found large rectangular basins in which the hides were tanned. Those present underneath the municipal archives were during the 1976 -1977 restoration seen and since then left in the soil.
The triptych offers a view of the Grote Looiersstraat with the canal not filled up. The point of view exactly matches that which you now have when from the exhibition hall you look in the direction of the Grote Looiersstraat. The houses at both sides of the canal date mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries and have not changed much. The recently cleansed hides, hanging to dry, and the large vats in which the hides were tanned, recall the tanners who once dominated the scene.