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There are signs like this on many of the buildings in Amsterdam (often with no words and probably dating back to a time when many people couldn't read or write). I'm having a hard time translating this, and finally decided it could be the name of the proprietors, who specialized in . . . laundry? [Linking back to signs, signs.] |
Thursday, October 12, 2017
laundromat?
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You have a really good eye. I would likely walk right past that without even a sideways glance. And your guess is spot on!
ReplyDeleteBlickmant is a variation of bleekmand, which means “bleaching basket.”
Google Translate offered me some of the following:
“The house dates back to the second half of the 17th century, with a brick wall holding a representation of a basket of wool and the caption in the first pillar of the first floor:
THE BLICKMAND.”
“Yarn and linen were exposed to large scale bleaching (in fields outside the city walls) for their final processing. This stone may have had a second life as the sign of a smaller scale 'laundry'. In these businesses 'clothes bleaching' or, in short, ’the bleak' was the process of washing and bleaching dirty clothes, bedding and tablecloths.”
The operation was more complicated and detailed than the name suggests. Thus it could be quite lucrative.
A Dutch person would be able to offer more detailed and accurate information.
Wow, nice linkage, TG!—how do you DO that? Thanks for the info (and you might not walk right past—it's a lot closer to your eye level than it is to mine). :~}
DeleteThen again, maybe that was an early version of a waffle cone.
ReplyDelete