Before the year 754, Dokkum already existed, but was no more than a couple of huts and tents on a crossing of land and water roads. The murder on St. Boniface changed all this. The bishop was killed on this location in Friesland while doing his mission work. It then became a place of pilgrimage for many Christians. There was also a Boniface well, a convent and a memorial church to pleasure the pilgrims. The religious travels were ended at the Reformation in 1580, but at the end of the 19th century, pilgrimages to the Frisian city started to get popular again. Father Titus Brandsma instigated the Boniface Park in 1925 and the Chapel in 1935.
Dokkum – the northernmost city of The Netherlands - has a lot more to offer than just St. Boniface relics. Architect Jacob Lons built the noteworthy Town Hall in 1610. It was built on the cellars of a much older building that was called Mockema Blauwhuis (Mockema's blue house).
Water has played an important role in the history of Dokkum. It used to have an open link to the sea; the tide came as far as the city centre in those times. City walls were built near 1600 as Dokkum had a major strategic value. Polders and dykes caused Dokkum's link to sea to break.
Dokkum is the city where the last stage in the heroic Elfstedentocht begins. Thanks to its warm welcoming atmosphere, ice skaters elected Dokkum as Sports City of the Century in 1997. A year later, a statue was raised depicting two skaters turning to begin the last difficult but rewarding stage towards Leeuwarden.
Dokkum has an informative web site at http://www.dokkum.nl/