Dordrecht, oldest city of Holland
The oldest buildings part 1
Most images are clickable to enlarge in a new window.
The Big Church or Church of our Lady
(in Dutch GROTE of OLV KERK)
View at Dordrecht from the river Old-Meuse
The Big Church outside
The Big Church backside at the Voorstraat harbor )Thure
river)
The Big Church or "Church of our Lady" was build by order of the Frisia-Holland
Count Dirk V (1061-1090)
and started in 1077 by Pieter de Groot ?. He was the grandfather of Anna, a
spiritual virgin, who is said to have lived for 113 years (1081-1196).
The Tower of the Big Church was build from about 1182. The Church ship itself
was enlarged from about 1339. The whole Church was finally ready by the end
of the 14th century. The Big Church is the third biggest one in the Netherlands,
and the tower is about 75 meters high (about 250 feet) and never finished (see
later). The dome-vault of the Big Church is the only one in The Netherlands
fully made of stone. The Big Church is a Gothic building.
The Tower
There is an interesting story to be told about this tower, and church towers
in general. A few centuries ago, when most churches were built, the size of
the church's tower was an indication of the city's wealth. You might notice
that many towers look like this one: as if it was suddenly cut off, with the
last bit added on hastily. (in this case the 4 clocks) This is usually because
the town turned out to be less wealthy than they would have liked to think,
and they ran out of money before they were finished. This isn't the case in
Dordrecht.
Dordrecht was a fabulously wealthy city, as it was positioned at a crossroads
of some main rivers and played an important part in trade, so they could easily
have afforded to make it 125 meters high, as was intended.
Unfortunately, Dordrecht's position in between rivers also meant that the
ground was very wet and spongy, and unable to support a structure so high. The
tower started leaning over 2,5 meters, which it still visibly does right now,
and the building had to stop, otherwise it would simply have fallen over.
Drawing of what the tower originally should have looked
like.
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Maartensgat
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Tower |
New Harbor
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Tower by night
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The Big Church backside at the Voorstraat
harbor (Thure river)
The Carillon
The famous tower of the Big Church has the largest Carillon of Europe, recently
has been added 16 bells to the carillon and now the Carillon consist of a total
of 64 bells.
Prinsenstraat Voorstraat
click the image to hear the Carillon of
the tower
Click HERE to hear the
so called "vijfgelui", pealing 5 bells.
Now you can hear what I hear all day in our living room and office. On the
foreground at the right you can see part of our home.
This is the way to play a Carillon
If you like Carillon music you can download a nice example of the sound of
this famous carillon (7,416 kb) in CD quality
HERE.
A few of the bells added to the Carillon in 1999-2000.
Panorama views from top of the Tower
The tower can be visited whole year and after you have walked 275 steps you
have a wonderful view at Dordrecht from a height of 75 meters.
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| To the west, the
Old Meuse river with the bridges |
To the west, Korenbeurs
and Kalk harbors |
To the west, Prinsenstraat |
To the west, Old
Harbor (Thure), Voorstraat |
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| A panorama view
to the East |
To the east, Voorstraat
harbor (Thure) |
To
the north-east, Voorstraat harbor |
To the north-east,
Wijnstraat |
To the north-east,
River Merwede |
A view from the tower on our house (1628), on the left-middle
of the photo, the white facade with three great windows in the middle. On the
foreground the Old Harbor (Thure)
Front (Rococo style) of our house
Inside the Big Church
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| Kam and van der
Meulen Organ |
Church ship |
Stone dome-vault |
Chorus fence |
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| High Chorus with
burned-painted windows |
Pancras Chapel
with burn-painted window |
View tower side
with the famous pulpit to the right |
Chorus stalls 1538
and graves |
Kam and van der Meulen Pipe-Organ
The Word famous Organ of the Big Church of Dordrecht in The Netherlands build
in 1678 and renovated in 1762 and 1859.
Click the image to hear the PIPE ORGAN
of the Big Church, please be patient it takes some time to load. (1,482 kb),
Organist Andre de Jager.
Due to the acoustic of the Cathedral, the echo of the sound of this organ
takes about 10 seconds to die-away. A notable detail, the organ can't be set
to its full capacity because of the danger of damaging the walls and the stone
dome-vault of the Big Church.
You can also download this file.
Marche Triomphale - Mic.J. Lemmens in MP3 CD quality (160kbps / 44 kHz)
(4.934 kb), playing time 4.12 min.
If you like Organ music, here is another nice example of the sound of this
famous organ : Organ Big Church Dordrecht Netherlands, Organist Andre de Jager
Baroque Suite - Gordon Young in MP3 CD quality (160kbps / 44 kHz) (9.538
kb), playing time 8.07 min.
Other Old Buildings of Dordrecht
The City hall of Dordrecht
The city hall of Dordrecht was originally build as a "Laken Hal" (Reproach
hall), build by traders form Flanders in 1383. From 1544 it is in use as the
city hall of Dordrecht The old façade was replaced in the 18th century as it
is today.
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| Front close-up |
Front side |
Backside |
The Court (Old Court) of Dordrecht
The Court of Dordrecht was build about 1275. Originally build as abbey for
the monks of the St. Augustine order, complete with a church (The Augustijner
church 1293) situated at the Voorstraat, the famous Dutch Painter Aelbert Cuyp
(1620-1691) is buried there.
Front side close-up
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| Front side total
view |
Backside with the
Court garden |
Augustijner Gate,
view to the Voorstraat |
In the 16th century Dordrecht was an important politic, military and economical
center, and because of that Dordrecht had many famous visitors in those days,
for instance Emperor Charles V, the last Roman emperor, King Philips II of Spain
and the Count of Alva, the general of the army of Philips II, they stayed in
Dordrecht several times before Dordrecht choice the side of William of Orange
in 1572.
King Philips II - Roman Emperor Charles V - Alva (Alba)
After 1568, the beginning of the 80 years war against king Philips II of
Spain (1568-1648), the Court was used as the seat of the "Seven united provinces
of Holland" with the Prince of Orange as their leader.
The government of the seven united provinces of Holland was founded in The
Old Court of Dordrecht in the year 1572, Prince William of Orange lived here
for a while with his bride Charlotte de Bourbon in 1575.
See the whole story on my
Dordrecht history and
House of Orange pages.
Prince William of Orange, the founder of Holland
The Monumental Grave of William of Orange in the New
Church at Delft
From 1585 on Prince Maurits had his headquarters in the Old Court for a few
years and here were planned all military operations against Spain.
Prince Maurits
A part of the map of Dordrecht in the 17th century,
in the middle the Old Court
The Old court gate (called Augustijner gate (painting
1880), with a view at the Voorstraat, on the left side the Augustijner Church
(1293) with the grave of the famous Dutch painter Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691).
Renaissance in Dordrecht
From about 1600 the architecture changed and a new build style was introduced
(originally from Italy) so was "born" the "Dordtsche Gevel". This build style
was used all over The Lowlands in the 16th-19th century.
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| Patrician house |
Museumstraat |
Schoolstraat |
Other buildings
Next, this richly decorated house, deserving its name for obvious reasons,
was the butchers' guild-house it was build about 1520. The tiny shop next to
at the right still is a 'slagerij' or butcher's, though apparently not of Dutch
stock. The Paterician house itself is in use now as the Library of Dordrecht.
The bridge I was standing on to take the picture is spanning the narrow middle
of the Voorstraat harbor (Old Harbor, the former Thure river).
The Butchers guild-houseon a rainy day, in old Dutch
"IN DEN GULDEN OSS", on top of the building you can see the "golden" ox.
To the left, where a car is just rounding the corner, a monument stands to
the remembrance of two brothers (Johan and Cornelis de Witt) of the Dordrecht's
noble family De Witt, who in the summer of 1672 (The year of disaster) were
both killed, because they were Republicans, Johan de Witt was the first Pensionary
of State (a kind of President) of Holland. Before they were executed Cornelis
was imprisoned in The Hague in an Orangists street-riot. (the Prison gate, in
Dutch Gevangenpoort). See the whole story on my
Dordrecht history,
Holland republicans
and The House of Orange
pages.
The statue of Johan and Cornelis de Witt on the Visbrug
(Fish-bridge)
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| Warehouse Stockholm,
Wolwevers harbor |
Warehouse Stockholm,
Wolwevers harbor |
Old street |
The grain exchange |
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| Wine street |
Wine street |
Wine cellar |
Scheffers square |
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| Voorstraat |
Voorstraat |
Voorstraat, shop
with hand-car |
The way to build
new in old city |
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| Voorstraat North |
Spuistraat |
Warehouse at the
Kuipers harbor |
Warehouse at the
Kuipers harbor |
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| Windmill Kijck
over den Dijck, 1713 |
The district court
Steegoversloot |
Courtyards
In Dordrecht are several courtyards build by rich citizens as a gift for
their old workers to rest out at their old age, in these courtyards mostly lived
a dozen of them, all in their own "little" house, in the middle was a well and
mostly a garden. There are several left to visit.
Aerend Maartens courtyard from outside. Called after
its founder
Aerend Maartens courtyard from inside.
Next : Dordrecht Old
Buildings 2
