Haarlem Sterrenheuvel Stylish & Friendly

The Sterrenheuvel Farewell House and Crematorium is situated at the St. Jozef cemetery in Haarlem, and almost looks American. With her project, Anita van Bokhorst, initiator and owner, wanted to create a ‘personal’ place for small undertakers from this region. “There are already many crematoriums in the Netherlands; I wanted to develop something different, in particular something friendly. The Sterrenheuvel, which was built in neoclassical style, was opened in April 2019.” With his 26 years of experience, Operational Manager Rob van Schooten is still surprised about all the things that are possible in combination with what people want. “Here we provide all services under one roof, we take care of the body, cool it, place it on the bier, arrange the farewell services, and take care of the cremation. Undertakers are happy to come here. Farewells are increasingly becoming a more unique event, matched to the person who has died. No matter what people want, everything is basically
possible here.”

The fact that Sterrenheuvel has an extraordinary reputation in Haarlem is evident from the number of cremations that have been carried out since its opening. Rob: “The number of over 200 cremations is well above our forecast. It is precisely because we are a new player in this region that we are very happy with this number.” With its motto “Loving Farewells”, three cremations a day are carried out at most. Peace, space and time are concepts that are respected by the whole team. The moment that Anita’s project could be implemented, she started looking for a small-scale production company to build the cremator, not too far away. “I prefer short lines and our supplier to be available optimally. DFW Europe is exactly that company.” She opted for the DFW6000, partly because of its exterior design that does not frighten off people when they guide the deceased to the cremator.