Wooden shoes or clogs: although everyone knows what they are and what they look like, they are worn much less frequently nowadays than they used to be. In fact clogwearers have become an all but extinct species. Yet is it not so long ago that almost everybody owned a pair of clogs and used them every day. Consequently there were lots of clogmakers in those days, who all made their own models, often in a variety of colours and decorations. This immense diversity in clogs from the past now forms a valuable part of the cultural heritage of a people.  

Wooden Shoes Museum “Wietzes Bros” was named after the two last clogmakers in Eelde, Elso Wietzes (1916 - 1977) and Egbert Wietzes (1925 - 1988). They were not only very able makers of clogs for daily use, but also collected clogs from many different countries.  

After Egbert’s demise the Foundation Wooden Shoes Museum “Wietzes Bros” takes over the management of the collection of clogs and the clogmaking tools. The collection of Mr H.P. Bongers from Enschede is added to the collection of the Wietzes brothers. Bongers was a teacher at the Technical College in Enschede. His collection included clogs and unique clogmaking tools from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France and Spain. In 2002 this whole collection becomes the property of the Museum.

In 1990 the Wooden Shoes Museum “Wietzes Bros” in Eelde is opened. Its international collection includes:

• more than 1.400 pairs of different clogs and other footwear with wooden soles from 43 countries
• the largest and most diverse collection in the world
• hundreds of tools from 7 European countries
• simple clogmachines ( round 1920) from The Netherlands, Germany and France
• information in the form of books, newspaper articles, photographs etc. etc.