BP MARKOWITZ TO WELCOME DUTCH PRIME MINISTER TO BROOKLYN AS PART OF NY400

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
SEE LOCATIONS AND TIMES BELOW

Release from Consulate General-Netherlands

Brooklyn welcomes Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen, visit Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church and Brooklyn Museum as part of NY400, celebrating 400 years of friendship between the Netherlands and Brooklyn.

When:             Sunday afternoon September 20th

Where:            4:20PM           Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, 8516 Clarendon Road
                        5:30PM           Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church, 890 Flatbush Avenue
                        6:00PM           Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has been the leading force behind NY400, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Henry Hudson onboard the Dutch ship the Half Moon to the shores of what is now New York City. Together with Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen and Minister of Development Cooperation Bert Koenders, the Prime Minister will pay special tribute to Brooklyn and all Brooklynites, thereby strengthening the borough’s historical and future ties with the Netherlands. They will be welcomed by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum:
Borough President Marty Markowitz & NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe will be hosting a tour at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, the oldest building in the City of New York, built in 1652. During their visit the Prime Minister will meet with Wyckoff descendants and children of the New Amstersfoort School in Brooklyn who participated in the NY400 celebrations earlier this year. Finally, they will unveil the designs of the Dutch barn which is to be re-erected on the premises next year.

Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church:
Dutch Prime Minister and Foreign Minister will be meeting Church Minister Dan Ramm and members of the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church community and will discuss the Church’s Dutch cultural heritage and social issues in the region such as healthcare problems.  The church has a special program to help the homeless and less fortunate residents in the Flatbush area.

Brooklyn Museum:
Brooklyn still has a rich collection of typical historic Dutch houses. Two of which have been reconstructed inside the Brooklyn Museum: The Jan Martense Schenck House and the Nicholas Schenck house. Dutch Prime Minister and other Government Officials will be meeting with the local Dutch community in the Museum.

About NY400:
NY400 celebrates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival to New York Harbor on the Dutch ship the Half Moon (‘Halve Maen’) and 400 years of Friendship between the Netherlands and the United States. The celebration is an initiative by the Dutch government. As part of the NY400 celebration Brooklyn Borough President visited this year the Netherlands and strengthened the borough’s ties with the Netherlands. In a proclamation he saluted “the wonderful people of the Netherlands who came to our shores 400 years ago and provided us with the foundation of our government, the tenets of religious freedom, and the establishment of inalienable rights that have sustained us for four centuries; our architecture, major streets and highways still bear the imprint of the great Dutch influence,  I commend those intrepid Dutch families that dominated the county of Brooklyn for some two hundred years, raising families, developing land and agriculture, building businesses and establishing what we now know as the communities of Bushwick, Flatlands, Flatbush, Gravesend and New Utrecht. For more information, visit www.NY400.org or contact Simone Kreutzer at 917 509 4202 or Marjan Inbar at 646 643 5913.

Some quick facts:

• Brooklyn is named after the Dutch town of Breukelen & was the first city outside of New Amsterdam that became a city of its own.
• Flatlands used to be called New Amstersfoort
• Flatbush used to be called Vlakke Bos
• The Dutch Wijckoff house is New York City’s oldest surviving structure.
• Coney Island is thought to be named after the Dutch word of rabbit, “konijn’’