The Oldehove is a leaning and unfinished church tower in the medieval centre of the Dutch city of

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

. Oldehove is also the name of an artificial mound (

terp A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides an ...

) on which in the late 9th century a (Catholic) church dedicated to

Saint Vitus Vitus (), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical D ...

was built. Construction of the adjoining Late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tower began in 1529, after the citizens of Leeuwarden demanded a tower taller than the one in the city of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, the

Martinitoren The ''Martinitoren'' (; Martini or St. Martin's Tower) is the tallest church steeple in the city of Groningen, Netherlands, and the bell tower of the Martinikerk. The tower is located at the north-eastern corner of the ''Grote Markt'' (Main Ma ...

. In charge were Jacob van Aken (or Aaken) and, after his death, Cornelis Frederiksz. The tower's tilt began during construction. The builders tried to compensate for the tilt, but the project was stopped in 1532 (1533 according to another source). In 1595–1596, the then derelict church was demolished, but the tower remains. It consists mostly of brick, but the builders also used so-called Bentheim

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

. There are two

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

s. A bell cast in 1633 by Hans Falck and a bell cast in 1637 by Jacob Noteman, weight . It is listed as a

Rijksmonument A rijksmonument (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands ...

, number 24331. The height of the tower is . The tower has 183 steps. The top of the tower is displaced horizontally from the centre. The original plan included attaching a new church to the tower, which would replace the old saint vitus church, but this was never realized.The Oldehove
Retrieved 10 March 2018 Custodian of the tower is Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden. File:20140531 Oldehove (Aldehou) Leeuwarden NL.jpg, Westside of the Oldehove in 2014 File:Oldehove 1584.jpg, The Oldehove from the southwest

References

Sources

* Stenvert, R. et al. (2000). ''Monumenten in Nederland: Fryslân'', p. 25, 41 and 189–196. Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle, the Netherlands. .

External links

Oldehove.eu
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Oldehove (Tower) Religious buildings and structures completed in 1532 Towers completed in the 16th century Towers in Friesland Inclined towers Rijksmonuments in Leeuwarden 1532 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire