Oude Kerk - Oranje route
The Oude Kerk, also called the Oude Jan or Scheven Jan, is one of the two large old churches in Delft.
OUDE KERK
On the site of the Oude Kerk, Delft's first parish church was founded around 1200 built in tuff. Construction of the current church started in 1246. People spent around 300 years building this church. It was Bartholomeus van der Made, a very wealthy man, who started construction in the mid-13th century. At that time, the church was named after its founder's patron saint: St Bartholomew's Church. In the 14th century, it was named after Saint Hippolytus. After the Reformation in 1572, the name expired because it was not acceptable to Protestants. From then on, the church was called the Oude Kerk. For the same reason, the Mary & Saint Ursula Church was henceforth called the Nieuwe Kerk. The church can be visited from Monday to Saturday.
The tore...
OUDE KERK
On the site of the Oude Kerk, Delft's first parish church was founded around 1200 built in tuff. Construction of the current church started in 1246. People spent around 300 years building this church. It was Bartholomeus van der Made, a very wealthy man, who started construction in the mid-13th century. At that time, the church was named after its founder's patron saint: St Bartholomew's Church. In the 14th century, it was named after Saint Hippolytus. After the Reformation in 1572, the name expired because it was not acceptable to Protestants. From then on, the church was called the Oude Kerk. For the same reason, the Mary & Saint Ursula Church was henceforth called the Nieuwe Kerk. The church can be visited from Monday to Saturday.
The tower was built between 1325 and 1350. The tower started to sag during construction. The four corner turrets were rebuilt perpendicularly in 1900, creating a kink in the tower. The tower is 75 metres high and stands 1.96 metres out of plumb.
The Oude Kerk looks completely different on the north side. Around 1510, the Mechelen master builder Anthonis Keldermans was commissioned to turn the church into a late Gothic cross basilica in natural stone. One started in the north transept. The Our Lady Chapel and Our Lady's Choir were realised. Due to the city fire in 1536 and the Reformation, the cross basilica was never completed.
The Wilhelmina window
Above the entrance to the church is the window with the theme 'Queen Wilhelmina's arrival in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen'. She re-enters Dutch soil for the first time at Aardenburg after five years of war. Flags are allowed to fly again and children offer her flowers in the colours red white and blue. Below the scene, you can read the same line from the 13th verse of the Wilhelmus that is also on the statue of William of Orange on St Agatha Square: 'Steadfast has remained my deer in adversity'. This was also the Queen's life motto.
In 1921, a fire broke out in the church because a plumber's servant had used a banned petrol burner when soldering the roofing. Major damage occurred to the interior and the organ. Because it was understood at the court in The Hague that the fire was in the Nieuwe Kerk and that they were worried about the tomb, Prince Hendrik, husband of Queen Wilhelmina, came to check it out. However, the fire turned out to have hit the Oude Kerk. On 24 April 2004, Prince Johan Friso married Mabel Wisse-Smit in this church.