The Stained glass windows in the

Sint Janskerk The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the list of the top 100 Dutch monuments. History The church is dedicated to John the Baptist ...

can be viewed by visitors after paying a modest entrance fee. The earliest windows date from 1555, three years after a destructive fire laid waste to the earlier church built in the same place. The creation of stained glass windows was temporarily halted in 1572 following Gouda's decision to side with the Protestant faction in the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...

, but the process was resumed a few years later with windows of a different and more worldly character. As a result, the church features stained glass windows from both Roman Catholic and Protestant donors – a highly unusual combination. The most treasured is the series of windows around the Choir that portray the life of

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, the city's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

, in parallel with that of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

North transept

Choir

South transept

Literature

* Henny VAN HARTEN-BOERS & Zsuzsanna VAN RUYVEN-ZEMAN, ''The Stained-Glass Windows in the Sint-Janskerk at Gouda. The glazing of the Clerestory of the Choir and of the former Monastic Church of the Regulars'', Amsterdam, 1997. * Zsuzsanna VAN RUYVEN-ZEMAN, ''The Stained-Glass Windows in the Sint-Janskerk at Gouda, 1556–1604'', Amsterdam, 2000 * Xander VAN ECK & Christiane E. COEBERGH, ''The Stained-Glass Windows in the Sint-Janskerk at Gouda. Dirk and Wouter Crabeth'', Amsterdam, 2002 * Zsuzsanna VAN RUYVEN-ZEMAN, Xander VAN ECK & Henny VAN DOLDER – DE WIT, ''Het geheim van Gouda: de cartons van de Goudse glazen'', Zutphen (Walburg Pers) 2002, {{ISBN, 9057301679

Janskerk, Gouda The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, South Holland, Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic architecture, Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites, list of the top 100 ...

History of Gouda, South Holland