Tintin in the Far East Exhibition - Haarlem

By Tintinologist.org Holland Correspondent Rob Winkels

5 June 2000

: Photograph © Rob Winkels

If I'd known what was there, I probably would not have driven over 120km for such a tiny exhibition. Even my youngest child, Esmee, was very disappointed and kept asking where Tintin and Snowy were ...

The base of the exhibition were Hergé's sketches and things. The only interesting thing I found were some letters between Hergé and his Chinese friend Chang. From the letters I copied the addresses of both men: Hergé: Georges Remi, Avenue Louise 162, B-1050 Bruxelles; Chang: Tchang Tchong-Jen, 76 Long 7 Shao Xing Lu, Shanghai.

It was very dark inside the exhibition, so dark that taking a picture with the flash would have certainly ruined the picture because all the exhibits were behind glass.

Tintin pin: Photograph © Rob Winkels

What I did like was the poster promoting the exhibition: "Kuifje in het verre oosten", which means "Tintin in the Far East". I bought two copies.

On our way to the exhibition, we walked through a narrow street lined with shops, and there was a small shop selling all kinds of comics related merchandise, including Tintin merchandise. There I bought a nice little pin, which is now on my denim jacket.

As we left the shop, my eldest daughter Juliette saw a Snowy keyring - one that we had already placed an order for at another Tintin stockist - the Original Tintin Shop in Den Bosch. But we could not bear to see Juliette leave the store empty-handed, so we bought the keyring.

While paying for the keyring, I told the lady behind the counter that I had ordered one from the Original Tintin shop. She told me that the Original Tintin Shop did not exist anymore, at the least the name was no longer. So it would seem that Holland has lost her only original Tintin shop, which is a shame. I was also told that the wife of the Original Tintin Shop's owner also ran another store just across the road from her husband's shop. The two shops have now been merged, hence a new business name. Perhaps they could not sell enough to keep the 'Tintin' name, because, apparently, you need to sell at least 125,000 Dutch Gilders for Moulinsart S.A. each year—not always an easy target to reach.