‘Haarlem 1600 – 1700: A Report’ was a unique presentation that stood out because of the wall-filling images and atmospheric lighting. With appealing and playful texts, the history of a city was told to the visitor in a modern way. Wall-sized reproductions of paintings from the museum created a picture of 17th-century Haarlem. The texts on the reproductions gave extensive information about the surroundings of Haarlem, the most important 17th-century Haarlem industries such as the beer brewery and the linen bleaching, the administration and the government tasks, the administration of justice, the monitoring of peace and order in the city, the care for the elderly, orphans and the sick, and of course about the life of the Haarlemmers. The intention was to use the historical information to make the paintings in the Frans Hals Museum more alive.

De presentation was designed by Kossmann and De Jong exhibition-architects, Caspar Conijn and Ferry Wilting.