Friday, August 10, 2007

The Oude Kirk (Old church, duh!) is the oldest church in Delft (duh!), dating from the thirteenth century. It's in a fairly peripheral part of town considering its history, but that's just as well as it looks like the steeple is about to topple over any minute. The interior photo of this church is the one without the dead king's memorial. The Nieuwe Church is much more centrally located, smack dab in the middle of the market square. It's probably the weirdest church I've ever seen, with an absolutely massive steeple sprouting from a pretty insignificant little church. But despite its eccentricities, it's very important historically. Prince William of Orange, the founder of Holland and the current Dutch monarchy, is buried here (see photo). All the subsequent Dutch monarchs are also buried here, but with considerably less fanfare, in keeping with the very low key style of the monarchy.














0 comments: