The Harderwijk Poetry Route is a permanent walking route through the historic city center, passing poems attached to the facades of notable locations. The route was initiated in 2007 by Harderwijk’s first city poet and extensively renovated in 2026, during which the original paving stones were replaced with sustainable synthetic tiles.
Almost twenty years of poetry in stone and plastic
The Harderwijk Poetry Route has existed for nearly twenty years. Harderwijk’s first city poet, Michel Martinus, initiated the route in 2007, involving the laying of heavy paving tiles bearing poems throughout the city center. Over the years, due to weather conditions and intensive use, the tiles became increasingly illegible. The Literary and Cultural Foundation Apollo took the initiative to breathe new life into the route. With support from the Municipality of Harderwijk and the Burger Weeshuis, the worn stones were replaced with synthetic tiles, known as “poetry carriers,” which are attached to building facades. Alderman for Culture Martijn Pijnenburg performed the official reopening in 2026 at the Old Town Hall on the Markt.
Past special places in the city
The route leads past a series of characteristic locations in the historic city center: the City Museum, the Library, the Synagogue, the Town Hall, the Grote or Mariakerk, the Vispoort, and the Vischmarkt. Each of these places features a poem written by a city poet or junior city poet of Harderwijk and Hierden. The poems reflect the history, character, and daily life of the city. With a walking guide—designed by Fred Kapelle and available at Heerlijk Harderwijk, among others—all the poem displays are easy to find.
