![Delft, centrum met de Oude Kerk RM11970 foto1 2014-03-09 11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Delft%2C_centrum_met_de_Oude_Kerk_RM11970_foto1_2014-03-09_11.21.jpg)
The Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed ''Oude Jan'' ("Old John") and ''Scheve Jan'' ("Skewed John"), is a
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 ...
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
church in the old city center of
Delft
Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical.
History
![Delft Old Church (Old Kerk) Rennovation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Delft_Old_Church_%28Old_Kerk%29_Rennovation.jpg)
The Oude Kerk was founded as
St. Bartholomew
Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو ...
's Church in the year 1246, on the site of previous churches dating back up to two centuries earlier. The layout followed that of a traditional
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
, with a
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
flanked by two smaller
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
s.
The tower with its central spire and four corner turrets was added between 1325–50, and dominated the townscape for a century and a half until it was surpassed in height by the
Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). During its construction the foundations were not strong enough to support the building, and the church began to lean. As work continued, the builders tried to compensate for its lean on each layer of the tower, but to this day only the four turrets at the top are
truly vertical. It is possible that the course of the adjacent canal had to be shifted slightly to make room for the tower, leaving an unstable foundation that caused the tilt.
By the end of the 14th century, expansion of the side aisles to the height of the nave transformed the building into a
hall church
A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...
, which was rededicated to
St. Hippolytus. The church again took on a typical basilican cross-section with the construction of a higher nave between about 1425 and 1440.
The Delft town fire of 1536 and the turmoil of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
brought a premature end to an ambitious expansion project led by two members of the
Keldermans family
Keldermans is a family of artists, originating from Mechelen (an independent city surrounded by the Duchy of Brabant). The members of the family were mostly architects working in the Brabantine Gothic style. As the most important architects of the ...
of master builders. This construction phase resulted in the flat-roofed, stone-walled northern
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
arm that differs markedly in style from the older parts.
The great fire,
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...
, weather, and the explosion of the town's gunpowder store in 1654 (''see
Delft Explosion
Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan ...
'') took their toll on the church and its furnishings, necessitating much repair work over the years. During one renovation, the tower turrets were rebuilt in a more vertical alignment than the leaning body below, giving the tower as a whole a slightly kinked appearance. The current
stained-glass windows
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
were crafted by the master glazier Joep Nicolas in the mid-20th century.
Furnishings
The church possesses three
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
s, from the years 1857 (main organ), 1873 (north aisle) and 1770 (choir).
Bells
There are 2 bells that hang in the tower, The large ''Trinitasklok'' or ''Bourdon'', chimes every hour and the small Laudate which chimes every half hour.
The larger of the two bells was cast in 1570 weighs nearly nine
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s, and because of its strong and potentially damaging vibrations, is rung only on such special occasions as the burial of a
Dutch royal family
The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...
member in the nearby New Church. The massive bell is also sounded during disasters, when local
air-raid sirens are sounded (but not during the monthly country-wide siren tests). In April 2020, the Bourdon was part of the "Bells of Hope" initiative as a token of appreciation for the relief workers and caregivers during the first weeks of the corona pandemic outbreak.
The smaller of the two bells has an unusual story. In 1943 the clock, together with the one from the Nieuwe Kerk, was taken by the German occupier to be melted down. Fortunately that never happened; in 1946 Laudate was put back in its old place.
Graves
Approximately 400 people are entombed in the Oude Kerk, including the following notables:
* Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of nobleman
Marnix van St. Aldegonde
Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Lord of West-Souburg (Dutch: Filips van Marnix, heer van Sint-Aldegonde, heer van West-Souburg, French: Philippe de Marnix, seigneur de Sainte-Aldegonde; 7 March/20 July 1540 – 15 December 1598) was a ...
(1608)
* noblewoman and benefactrix
Clara van Spaerwoude
Clara Jansdochter van Sparwoude (sometimes written Spaerwoude) (ca. 1530 – 4 August 1615) was a Dutch noblewoman of Delft who is chiefly remembered for her great wealth and various charitable funds from her estate. The most famous of these gran ...
(1615)
* naval hero
Piet Hein (1629)
* writer
Jan Stalpaert van der Wiele
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Numb ...
(1630)
* naval hero
Maarten Tromp
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (also written as ''Maerten Tromp''; 23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653) was a Dutch army general and admiral in the Dutch navy.
Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, including being captured ...
(1653)
* painter
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , #Pronunciation of name, see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period Painting, painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class, middle-class life. ...
(1675)
* painter
Hendrick Cornelisz van Vliet, who had painted the church interior (1675)
* statesman
Anthonie Heinsius
Anthonie (or Antonius) Heinsius (23 November 1641, Delft – 3 August 1720, The Hague) was a Dutch statesman who served as Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1689 to his death in 1720.
Life
Heinsius was born at Delft on 23 November 1641, son of ...
(1720)
* scientist
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the F ...
(1723)
* poet
Hubert Poot (1733)
External links
Oude Kerk website
View of the Oude Kerkpainted by Jan van der Heyden, ca. 1660 (Web Gallery of Art)
{{coord, 52, 0, 45, N, 4, 21, 19, E, type:landmark_region:NL-ZH, display=title
14th-century churches in the Netherlands
Towers completed in the 14th century
Rijksmonuments in Delft
Brick Gothic
Inclined towers
Churches in South Holland
Protestant churches in the Netherlands
Gothic architecture in the Netherlands