Limburg in beeld

Summary

Documentary about the province of Limburg, made by the documentary department of Filmfabriek Hollandia.

This documentary about South Limburg consists of four parts that were produced in 1918 by Filmfabriek Hollandia as individual educational films for the Nederlandsche Schoolfilm Commissie. In 1919, Lou C. Barnstijn, the general manager of the film distributor HAP, combined the four films under the title Limburg in Pictures, along with the film Steenkolenmijnen in Limburg (Coal Mines in Limburg).

The film Maastricht includes footage of the Maese, the city, and the St. Pietersburg plateau. We see both the crowded inner city as well as the rural setting, with watermills and ruins.

Landbouw en veeteelt in Limburg (Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Limburg) shows the hilly Limburg countryside, with its farmhouses. The fields are tilled, and cattle are taken to pasture. The Belgian-Limburg draw-horses are not fast, but they are strong, as the images of a draft-horse competition show.

Mergel-industrie (The Marl Industry) is a reportage about a major industry in Limburg. Passages have been hewn out of the limestone in South Limburg to allow for the extraction of marl, which has been used to build houses for centuries. The marl is cut, and then transported in trains and boats. Ground limestone is used as fertilizer.

Valkenburg en omgeving (Valkenburg and its Surroundings) opens with an idyllic impression of the old city of Valkenburg and its surroundings. The camera then goes on a train ride through Limburg, from Bemelen to the ‘Vierlandenpunt’ quadripoint in Vaals. The footage shows the typical Limburg landscape to the south of Maastricht – Gronsveld, St. Geertruid, Mheer – as well as picturesque villages like and Gulpen and Slenaken.