delft churches

 

The Old Church

The Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed Oude Jan ("Old John"), is a Gothic church in the old city center of Delft, the Netherlands. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical.*

History

The five characteristic spires of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) tower above the old city centre of Delft. It is the oldest parish church in the city and was originally known as the St Hippolyte Church. The sagging tower of the Oude Kerk is no longer the highest in the city. Nevertheless, it is still as strikingly beautiful as it was during the Middle Ages. The solid presence of the church and tower reaffirms Delft's lasting position in history. The year 1246 is given as the church's official date of birth, but in fact its history goes back much further. Hundreds of years before count William II enfranchised the city, the inhabitants of the settlement along ‘de Delf’ held church services on the same spot. It is generally assumed that there had been a wooden church on this site as early as 1050. Bartholomew van der Made started rebuilding and extending the parish church some time around the middle of the thirteenth century. From that time onwards, the church on the Oude Delft bore the name of the patron saint of its ‘founder’, the St Bartholomew church.

Two aisles and a chancel were added to the church which was built from tuff. In the years to follow, four building phases succeeded that of Bartholomew van der Made which ultimately determined the appearance of the church. During one of these, the gothic tower, with its brick spire and four angle towers, was added (1325 - 1350).

The 75-metre high tower was last restored in 1995. The brick spire with the four angle towers is reminiscent of Flemish architecture. The angle towers were replaced some time around 1900. In contrast to the main tower, the new towers are quite perpendicular.

Even during its construction, the tower was plagued by subsidence. This could be because the water in the Oude Delft had to be redirected to make way for the existing church. The tower therefore was probably built on a filled-in canal. Throughout the ages, the leaning tower has been the cause of considerable alarm to many an inhabitant. In 1843, the City Council of Delft, fearing the collapse of the tower, decided that it had to be pulled down to the level of the church roof. Local contractors were able to prevent this decision from actually being carried out.

Several years after the tower had been built, the two aisles were raised to the level of the nave. This created a domed church. The two aisle chancels and the high chancel date from this period. In 1396, at the end of this construction phase, the church was dedicated to St Hippolyte.

In the first half of the fifteenth century, the nave was completely renovated. The church now resembled a basilica, as the nave rose above the aisles. In turn, the aisles were extended to the front of the tower. During the course of the fifteenth century, several chapels and portals were added to the building. The portal in the northern facade of the building, which was converted into a chapel, and the portal in the tower still stand.

The last radical conversion took place at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The plan was to perfect the brick basilica into a cross basilica in natural stone. Anthonis Keldermans, a descendant of the famous Flemish family of master builders and stone masons, was called in to execute the plan. Buildings in Brabant Gothic style by several generations of Keldermans can still be seen in many Flemish and Dutch cities as well as in the province of Zeeland.

Fire and iconoclasm - The last plan for expansion never progressed further than the northern cross-aisle. The fire which raged through the city in 1536, and even more effectively, the Reformation, finally swept aside all plans for a cross basilica in natural stone. With the result that to this day the Oude Kerk offers us a wonderful insight into its own history.

Pulpit - Anything that still remained inside the church after the fire, was completely destroyed by the iconoclasts in 1566 and 1572. Only the exceptionally beautifully carved pulpit dating from 1548 survived these bitter times. This pulpit and the one in the St Jan Cathedral in Den Bosch are two of the most beautiful in the Netherlands. The preacher, John the Baptist, and the five evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are depicted on the five panels which make up the body of the pulpit. The figures on the panels are sculpted in perspective.

Stained glass windows - After the explosion in a powder magazine in 1654 in which 45.000 kilograms of gun powder blew up, the church no longer had stained glass windows. The crowning glory of the restoration between 1949 and 1961 came when 27 stained glass windows were gradually installed. The leaded windows of the Oude Kerk are regarded as the best work of the glazier, Joep Nicolas. He made 25 windows. The work was completed by a relative after his death.

Three organs

The Oude Kerk has three organs: the main organ an organ in the north aisle and a cabinet organ in the chancel of the church. The main organ dates from 1857 and was built by the famous organ maker Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Witte. It has 41 stops, divided over three keyboards and a free pedal, and has 2,580 pipes.

The organ in the north aisle dates from 1873 and was also made by organ manufacturer Witte. This organ, which has one keyboard with a pedal attached, originally stood in another church – the Schoolstraatkerk – which was nicknamed the ‘poor people’s church’ and was demolished in the sixties.

The cabinet organ in the chancel of the church dates from the second half of the eighteenth century. It was probably built by organ maker Joachim Hess. Organ concerts are held regularly in the Oude Kerk

Pastors’ name boards - In the south aisle of the Oude Kerk are six large name boards listing the names of all the pastors who served the Reformed Parish of Delft, as the church was officially called, over the centuries from 1572 onwards. The name boards are mainly the work of sign-writer P. Sonneveld.

Mausoleums and epitaphes - The historical added value of the Oude Kerk lies in its mausoleums. About four hundred people are buried within the church walls. Among these are the naval heroes Piet Hein and Maarten Tromp, the physicist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek and the painter, Johannes Vermeer. The poet and author, Stalpaert van der Wiele, and pastoral poet, Huibert C. Poot, also found their last resting places here. The grave of the Council Pensionary, Antonie Heinsius, is in the southern aisle. Heinsius and the English general, John Churchill, played a significant role in the Spanish War of Succession against France.

Piet Hein - The altars and statues of the saints which characterised the church before the Reformation were replaced by a number of impressive mausoleums in the Golden Age. Pieterszoon Hein’s mausoleum stands in the main chancel. A marble statue of the naval hero lies on a beautifully worked marble plinth. The plinth and statue were sculpted from a single block of marble. The sculpture rests on a pedestal of black marble.

The frame, also in black marble, bearing Piet Hein’s family coat of arms is supported by four Doric pillars and four pilasters. The coat of arms represents a black raven on a black gate against a golden background.

The epitaph between the pilasters reflects the deep respect people had for the man who progressed from sailor to admiral. The epitaph summarises his most important feats of valour and adjures the reader: “You, United Provinces, mourn for the loss of the deceased whose glorious services for the Republic will never allow him to be mortal”.

Epitaphes - In the past the walls and pillars of the Oude Kerk were adorned with numerous epitaphs. These memorial inscriptions were intended to commemorate distinguished townspeople who were buried in the church. Only six of these now remain in the Oude Kerk. The most well-known and most frequently visited is that of Clara van Spaerwoude (1530 - 1615). There is a good reason for this, as she set up a special fund for needy descendants, who received a wedding gift from the fund. The fund was discontinued in 1922, as the number of descendants of Clara van Spaerwoude who qualified for a gift from the fund had become so large that the wedding gifts amounted to only € 11,35.

The New Church

Nieuwe Kerk (English: New Church) is a landmark church in Delft, the Netherlands. The building is located on Delft Market Square (Markt), opposite to the Delft City Hall (Dutch: Stadhuis). In 1584, William the Silent was entombed here in a mausoleum designed by Hendrick and Pieter de Keyser. Since then members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been entombed in the royal crypt. The latest are Princess Juliana (Queen of the Netherlands from 1948-1980) and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004. The private royal family crypt is not open to the public.

History

A vision - In January 1351 a beggar, an eccentric by repute, fell to his knees on the market square in Delft. His name was Brother Simon. According to the ‘Beschrijvinge der Stadt Delft’ (Description of the Town of Delft) dating from 1667, a certain Jan Col brought him some food. He was addressed by Simon with the words: “My dearly beloved friend, dost thou not see the Heavens open?” Both looked towards the sky and, according to tradition, saw a golden church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The beggar died soon after, but for the next thirty years on the same day of January, Jan Col continued to see a brilliant light shining on the spot indicated by Brother Simon. He was convinced that a church should be built in that place. When two deeply devout Beguines supported his request and one of them, moreover, bore the stigmata of Christ on the cross, the town council agreed to the construction of a church on that spot. It was not until it was actually built and consecrated that the annual vision of Jan Col disappeared.

Wooden church - The church which rose up on the market square following the visions of Brother Simon and Jan Col was the second parish church in Delft and was called the ‘Nieuwe Kerk’ (New Church). The original church was a temporary wooden building around which the basilica, as we know it today, was built over a period of a century. The wooden church, which remained until 1420, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. While the brick basilica was still under construction, St. Ursula became the second patron saint of the Nieuwe Kerk.

Symbolism - The design of the late Gothic cruciform basilica on the Markt, on which building started in 1396, was in accordance with strict rules dictated by symbolism. The cruciform shape represents Christ, the 12 pillars in the chancel symbolize the twelve apostles, the four central columns represent the four evangelists and the sixteen pillars in the nave symbolize the sixteen prophets.The church was literally constructed around the temporary wooden church. The rather strange bulge in the walls of the east transept is attributed to a small miscalculation. The foundations came closer to the wooden church than had been anticipated.

The brick basilica was constructed in three phases. The first part to be built was the transept, against the east wall of the wooden church. The chancel and the lower part of the tower were also built during this period. The second phase of construction comprised the nave, the aisles, the roof and the lowest octagonal section of the tower. It was only in the second half of the 15th century that the chancel gallery appeared, the south aisle was extended to alongside the tower and the second octagonal part of the tower was completed and crowned with a gigantic spire ball. On 6th September 1496, exactly one hundred years after building commenced, the tower was finally ready.

By hand - Even by today’s standards, construction of the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk was an amazing feat. Every brick, every trowel of cement had to be taken up by hand or on pulleys. A further problem lay in the fact that the sub-soil consisted of marshy reed-land. Some experts even believe that the visions of light experienced by Brother Simon and Jan Col were nothing more than marsh gas fires. In the 15th century, it was accepted that there was a risk of subsidence on this type of sub-soil. It was only during restoration work in 1933 that bored concrete piles were inserted beneath the church. Excavations have shown that the floor of the temporary wooden church probably lies more than two metres below the present church floor. This kind of subsidence was taken into account at the time the church was built. For this reason no brick or stone vaults were constructed since they could so easily crack.

Larger - With the completion of the tower, the construction of the Nieuwe Kerk was not yet at an end. In the first quarter of the 16th century the north transept was extended and a baptistry was built next to the tower. Foundations were also constructed for an enlargement of the south transept and aisle. This may have been a reaction to similar plans which existed for the Old Church, threatening to make this church bigger than the Nieuwe Kerk. The extensions to both churches were prepared but never executed.

Disasters - Less than fifty years after completion, the tower was struck by lightning on 3 May 1536. Fanned by a strong east wind, the subsequent fire devastated virtually everything in Delft to the west of the Nieuwe Kerk. Where the church itself was concerned, part of the tower was burned down. The organ, bells and the stained-glass windows were also lost. The roof of the clerestory collapsed.In the following restoration, the spire ball disappeared from the tower. This cylindrical symbol of infinity was replaced by a low steeple. This steeple was also damaged by lightning in 1872. It was only then that the present steeple was built, bringing the total height of the tower to 108.75 metres, or 356 steps up which to climb. This is only surpassed in the Netherlands by the Dom tower in Utrecht.

The iconoclasm of 1566 also left its mark on the Nieuwe Kerk. A damaged statue, on a level with the first pillar in the south aisle, is all that remains of the original Roman Catholic furnishing of the church. In 1572 the building was taken over by the Reformed Church.

The history of disasters which afflicted the Nieuwe Kerk did not come to an end with iconoclasm. On 12 October 1654, just after midday, the town was hit by what later became known as the Delft thunderclap. Ninety thousand pounds of gunpowder exploded in the Delft powder-magazine. The explosion damaged the walls of the Nieuwe Kerk. The roofs and stained-glass windows were destroyed. A start was made on restoring the church that very same winter and by the spring of 1655 the church could be used again.

Stained glass windows in the Nieuwe Kerk - The stained glass windows in the Nieuwe Kerk have been destroyed twice. The first time this happened was when a fire raged through the city in May 1536. The windows were destroyed a second time by an explosion in a Delft gunpowder factory in October 1654. It took almost three centuries for new stained glass windows to be installed, during which time the windows were partly bricked up and partly fitted with ordinary glass.

On the occasion of the silver jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina (1923), Edward W. Bok, an American of Dutch descent, donated the Wilhelmina stained glass window to the Nieuwe Kerk. This window can be found in the south transept of the church. All the windows in the chancel and in the north transept were subsequently replaced with stained glass in the period between 1927 and 1936. Most of these windows were made by glazier Willem van Konijnenburg.

 

Organ - The organ in the Nieuwe Kerk was built between 1837 and 1839 by J. Bätz and Co, organ makers from Utrecht. The old organ was assessed by Bätz in 1836 and his verdict was not at all flattering. He called the organ a ‘disordered mess’, of which only the bellows were still functional.The current organ was delivered in 1839. It originally had 42 stops, divided over three keyboards and a free pedal, and during later renovations this number was increased to 48. The organ has over 3,000 pipes. Organ concerts are held regularly in the Nieuwe Kerk.

Bells - The set of bells in the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk dates from 1660 and was made by François Hemony. He cast the 36 bells using the remains of the bells from the city hall, which were badly damaged in a serious fire in 1618.

The House of Orange - The Nieuwe Kerk acquired its link with the House of Orange- Nassau more or less by chance. Shortly before his death, William of Orange had chosen Delft as his temporary residence, from where he led his fight against the Spanish occupier.. When he was assassinated there on 10 July 1584 at the Prinsenhof by Balthazar Gerards, the burial vaults of the House of Orange in Breda were unreachable. Breda was still in the hands of the Spaniards at that time. For this reason the Prince was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk. Since then, the Nieuwe Kerk has been the last resting-place for the members of the Royal House.