Oude Kerk (Delft)
The Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed Oude Jan ("Old John") and Scheve Jan ("Skewed John"), is a Gothic Protestant church in the old city center of Delft, the Netherlands. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical.
History
The Oude Kerk was founded as
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
The Delft town fire of 1536 and the turmoil of the
The great fire,
Furnishings
The church possesses three pipe organs, 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
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(1608)
- noblewoman and benefactrix Clara van Sparwoude(1615)
- naval hero Piet Hein (1629)
- writer Jan Stalpaert van der Wiele (1630)
- naval hero Maarten Tromp (1653)
- painter Johannes Vermeer (1675)
- painter Hendrick Cornelisz van Vliet, who had painted the church interior (1675)
- statesman Anthonie Heinsius (1720)
- scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek(1723)
- poet Hubert Poot (1733)
See also
External links
- Oude Kerk website Archived 2009-02-01 at the Wayback Machine
- View of the Oude Kerk painted by Jan van der Heyden, ca. 1660 (Web Gallery of Art)