Biography of South Holland: Heritage in the Space Around Us

This biography tells the story of our heritage and how it shapes our living environment.

Heritage is all around us. It is in the DNA of our landscape. How? We explain this in the recently published Biography of South Holland. The biography provides an overview of the story behind the formation of the landscape in South Holland: why does South Holland look the way it does today? But also: what opportunities can we utilize to make our living environment even more beautiful now and for future generations?

On September 12, 2025, Deputy for Culture and Heritage Meindert Stolk presented the first copy of the biography in the library of Voorschoten-Wassenaar to the alderman of the municipality of Voorschoten Hans van der Elst, to director/administrator Esther Habers of the Voorschoten-Wassenaar library, and to director/administrator Frans Bergfeld of the library organization Probiblio.

Meindert Stolk, Deputy for Culture and Heritage: With the Biography of South Holland, we show that heritage is present all around us and that it helps us better understand the space of today and tomorrow. It is an inspiring guide for everyone working on our living environment, but certainly also for residents who want to know more about the place where they live. Because the space around us belongs to all of us – and by connecting the past and the future together, we make South Holland more beautiful.

Inspiring Guide

The Biography of South Holland brings to light the stories of how the province has been shaped and how all this forms the basis of the way we live, work, recreate, and move around now. It is not a history book or user manual, but more of a practical and inspiring guide. A guide for the professionals who are involved in shaping the space available to us in South Holland. But at the same time, it is a knowledge document for all residents of South Holland. After all, it concerns everyones immediate living and living environment. The biography tells from a historical perspective how our living environment has originated. It concerns our water management, our nature, the soil, and how we live, work, and move around.

Carrying Forward in Spatial Developments

For everyone who works on and thinks about the future of our living environment, the biography can help to see heritage as an opportunity to make our living environment even more beautiful: it offers insight, inspiration, and practical recommendations to incorporate cultural history from the start into spatial developments and changes. The living environment is never finished. It changes constantly.

The Space Around Us Belongs to Everyone

In early October 2025, several copies of the Biography of South Holland will also be available in all South Holland libraries. This way, everyone interested can read more about it. Through various platforms, residents regularly get the chance to think along and talk about their own South Holland. Perhaps this biography will also provide inspiration for that. We value the input of the residents of South Holland.