Prinsenhof - Wandeling Antoni
PRINSENHOF- THE OLDEST TELESCOOp Walk past the statue 'Geertruyt van Oosten 1330-1358' across the small bridge. If you walk through the gate, you will reach museum Prinsenhof and Prinsenkwartier.
Unique find from city canal in 2014
Although the telescope he built in 1609 allowed Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) to explore the heavens and make revolutionary discoveries, it was Hans Lipperhey (1570-1619) who had already patented 'seecker instrument omme verre te sien' a year earlier (due to an error in an English-language article from 1831, the incorrect spelling "Lippershey" has become common in English-language literature). He was the very first to understand the principle of the telescope with two lenses and turn it into a useful tool. Nothing remains of his products; we do know his patent application. However, in 2014, by chance, a 12 cm long, unsightly tube made of copper-plated iron was fished out of Delft's city canal, which completely matches Lipperhey's design. The tube can be considered the oldest telescope in the Netherlands.
Delft i...
Unique find from city canal in 2014
Although the telescope he built in 1609 allowed Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) to explore the heavens and make revolutionary discoveries, it was Hans Lipperhey (1570-1619) who had already patented 'seecker instrument omme verre te sien' a year earlier (due to an error in an English-language article from 1831, the incorrect spelling "Lippershey" has become common in English-language literature). He was the very first to understand the principle of the telescope with two lenses and turn it into a useful tool. Nothing remains of his products; we do know his patent application. However, in 2014, by chance, a 12 cm long, unsightly tube made of copper-plated iron was fished out of Delft's city canal, which completely matches Lipperhey's design. The tube can be considered the oldest telescope in the Netherlands.
Delft soon became a centre of lens grinders and telescope and microscope makers. Telescopes made in Delft were already mentioned in 1609. These were probably made by Evert Harmanz Steenwijk, a lens grinder in Delft.
Johan van der Wyck a military engineer who came to live in Delft in 1650 manifested himself as an internationally renowned maker of tele- and microscopes. Antoni would marry three years later and start a shop in linen, yarn and tape. Telescope and microscope makers Evert Harmanz Steenwijk and Johan van der Wyck lived and worked around the corner from Van Leeuwenhoek.