Oude Kerk (Delft)

The Oude Kerk ( Old Church ) is the older of the two large, Gothic city churches of Delft ( Holland ). The younger and more well-known is the Nieuwe Kerk ( New Church ). The hallmark of the Oude Kerk is the 75 meter high West Tower ( Oude including Jan), who has tilted in soft ground 1.96 meters from the Lot. It stands on the Oude Delft canal in the oldest part of the city.

History

Thought there was already mid-11th century a wooden, St. Hippolytus parish church at this point. In the 13th century it was replaced by a stone church dedicated to St. Bartholomew. This is followed by four more phases joined. The west tower with its five spiers built in the years 1325-1350. End of the 14th century, the original basilica was converted into a hall church, so they brought the aisles at the same height as the nave. In the following century the nave was, however, in turn, increases, so that the church has a basilica again cross section. Shortly after 1500 a transept was begun; as a builder of the Flame Anthonis Keldermans is recorded. Only the north transept was realized.

In the great fire of 1536 and the iconoclasts during the Reformation in 1566 and 1572 the church and its establishment was heavily damaged. The stained glass windows were destroyed in the explosion of the Delft powder tower in 1654. In the years 1949-1961 new glass window of the master glazier Joep Nicolas were used.

Equipment

The church has three organs: two smaller organs from 1873 ( north aisle ) and 1770 ( Choir). The main organ dates from 1857 and was built by the organ builder CGF Witte built. The instrument has 41 stops on three manuals and pedal. The tracker action are mechanical.

The bell tower is an unusual bell that already in 1570 cast Trinity or Bourdonglocke, which is almost nine tonnes and can be rung only at high occasions because of it caused vibrations, such as the funeral of a member of the royal family in the nearby new Church.

While the New Church is the burial place of the royal house of Orange- Nassau, numerous ( about 400 ) persons bourgeois background are buried in the Old Church. These include:

  • The painter Jan Vermeer
  • The navigator Piet Hein
  • The noblewoman Elizabeth Morgan
  • Of Sciences Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
  • The writer Stalpaert van der Wiele
  • Of sailors Maarten Tromp
  • The poet Huibert C. Poot
  • The councilor Antonie Heinsius.

Pictures

Interior

Vermeer grave

Gracht Delft#Delft Explosion Johannes Vermeer Piet Pieterszoon Hein
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