Sincfala Museum van de Zwinstreek

Sincfala, Museum van de Zwinstreek (now operating under the name HEY) is a regional heritage museum in Knokke-Heist devoted to the roughly two-thousand-year history of the Zwin area and the hard daily lives of local fishing families. It stands at Pannenstraat 138, in what used to be the fishermen's quarter of Heist.

How did the museum begin?

The story starts in 1960, when the Sint-Guthago Historical and Local Studies Society founded a small polder museum in Lissewege. The collection didn't stay there for long: in 1969 it moved into the Old School Building in Heist and was renamed Heemkundig Museum Sincfala, with a focus on polder life and fisheries. Johan Ballegeer became its first curator, and the museum was run by a non-profit organisation.

What building houses the museum?

The museum occupies a listed neo-Gothic former school building, completed in 1899 to designs by architect René Buyck (1850–1923). Before it became a museum, the building served educational purposes and, for a period, also housed the municipal public library. Only from 1970 were its lower floors opened to the public as exhibition space.

How has the display evolved over time?

A major turning point came in 1998, when the museum was thoroughly reorganised around a permanent exhibition tracing the origins of the distinctive Zwin region — following its transformation from a fishing and farming community into the seaside tourist resort that Knokke-Heist is today. The exhibition therefore covers both the area's past and the path that led to its present-day identity.

What can visitors see in the collection?

The museum's holdings were built up largely through donations from local residents and targeted acquisitions, resulting in a museum-quality collection centred on everyday life and folk culture in the Zwin region. The core theme running through the objects is the demanding work of fishermen and their families across the centuries.

Why does the museum go by a different name now?

Since 2024 the institution has operated as HEY (also referred to as HEY Museum or HEY Knokke-Heist), the new identity that followed a full renovation of the building and a reworking of the former Sincfala heritage museum. Between 2000 and 2022 it was known specifically as Sincfala, a name under which many visitors and historical records still recognise it.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the museum located? At Pannenstraat 138 in Knokke-Heist, in the heart of the former Heist fishing quarter.

Is this the same place as HEY Knokke-Heist? Yes — HEY is the museum's current name after renovation, the successor to Sincfala and, before that, the Heemkundig Museum.

What time period does the exhibition cover? Roughly two thousand years of history in the Zwin region, with particular emphasis on the shift from a fishing and farming economy to modern tourism.

Who designed the building? Architect René Buyck, who designed the neo-Gothic structure completed in 1899.