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Nieuwe Kerk (Delft)

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Nieuwe Kerk
Nieuwe Kerk, Delft
Map
Nieuwe Kerk
52°00′44″N 4°21′39″E / 52.0123°N 4.3609°E / 52.0123; 4.3609
LocationDelft, Netherlands
DenominationProtestant Church in the Netherlands
Previous denomination
Roman Catholic
Architecture
DesignatedDutch rijksmonument #11872
Architectural type
Church tower
StyleGothic
Groundbreaking1396
Completed1496
Specifications
Height108.75 m (356.79 ft)

The Nieuwe Kerk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈniu.ə ˈkɛr(ə)k]; English: New Church) is a Protestant church in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The building is located on Delft Market Square (Markt), opposite to the City Hall (Dutch: Stadhuis). In 1584, William the Silent was entombed there in a mausoleum designed by Hendrick and Pieter de Keyser. Since then, members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been entombed in the royal crypt. The latest members to have been entombed are Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004. The private royal family crypt is not open to the public. The church tower, with the most recent recreation of the spire, was designed by Pierre Cuypers and completed in 1872.[1] It is the second highest in the Netherlands, after the Domtoren in Utrecht.

History

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Family in the Nieuwe Kerk with the monument of Willem the Silent by Dirk van Delen, 1645

The New Church, formerly the church of St Ursula (14th century), is the burial place of the princes of Orange.[2] The church is characterised by a narrow tower and chime of bells, containing an allegorical monument of William the Silent. It was crafted by Hendrik de Keyser and his son Pieter in approximately 1621. The church also contains a tomb of Hugo Grotius, born in Delft in 1583, whose statue, erected in 1886, stands in the marketplace outside.[2] Grotius's wife, Maria van Reigersberch, who had helped him escape in 1621 from his imprisonment at Loevestein Castle hidden in a book chest,[3][4] is also buried there with her husband.[5]

The tower of the church was built in 1396–1496 by Jacob van der Borch, who also built the Domtoren in Utrecht during the years 1444–1475.[6] The monument for Hugo de Groot was made in 1781.[6] The mechanical clock has 18 bells, made by Francois Hemony from 1659.[6] The church tower contains a bell from 1662 made by Francois Hemony with a diameter of 104 centimetres.[6] In the tower there are also bells no longer in use, including 13 from 1659 by Francois Hemony, three from 1678 by Pieter Hemony, three from 1750 by Joris de Mery, and one from 1929 by Gillett and Johnston.[6]

In the Delft Thunderclap of 1645, 30 t (29.5 long tons; 33.1 short tons) of gunpowder detonated, destroying much of the city. The explosion blew the roof off and destroyed the church's stained-glass windows.[7]

The Kerk appears in the Golden-Age painting by Carel Fabritius, A View of Delft.[8] In 1586, Flemish scientist Simon Stevin used the church's tower to conduct an experiment on gravitational forces.[9]

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Recent discoveries

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In September 2021, archaeologists announced that the remains of around 200 people had been discovered during the expansion of the royal burial chamber in the Nieuwe Kerk.[10][11][12]

People buried in the royal crypt

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Cenotaph for William the Silent and access to the royal crypt
Plan of the royal crypt, prior to the 2022 expansion
The Nieuwe Kerk seen from the Oude Kerk
The Nieuwe Kerk from above

Eleven people are buried in the old vault:[13][14]

35 people are buried in the new vault:[13][14]

William III, Prince of Orange, is not buried in the royal crypt but in Westminster Abbey in the United Kingdom due to his position as King of England at the time of his death.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Tower New Church". Oude En Nieuwe Herk Delft. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  2. 1 2 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Delft" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 954.
  3. ↑ Murray, John (1838). A hand-book for travellers on the continent: being a guide through Holland, Belgium, Prussia. pp. 73.
  4. ↑ Davies, Charles Maurice (2010). History of Holland, from the beginning of the tenth to the end of the Eighteenth Century, Volume 2. General Books. p. 539. ISBN 978-1-151-01164-0.
  5. ↑ Blok, P.J.; Molhuysen, P.C. (1912). "Reigersberch, Maria van, in: Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (in Dutch). Vol. 2. Huyghens ING. p. 1184.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Rijksmonument report
  7. ↑ "Vermeer's Delft Today". www.essentialvermeer.com. Retrieved 2026-03-29.
  8. ↑ Walter Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 250.
  9. ↑ Schilling, Govert (2017-07-31). Ripples in Spacetime: Einstein, Gravitational Waves, and the Future of Astronomy. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674971660.
  10. ↑ "Royal catacombs yield bones of 200 rich Delft residents". DutchNews.nl. 2021-09-08. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  11. ↑ "Tweehonderd lichamen gevonden in Delftse Nieuwe Kerk: 'Nieuw hoofdstuk in geschiedenis'". www.omroepwest.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  12. ↑ "Catacombs at Delft's Nieuwe Kerk Excavated - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  13. 1 2 "Royal crypts".
  14. 1 2 The years between parentheses are the years in which the persons are interred in the vault.
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