When asked to name a leaning building, no doubt most people go for the leaning tower of Pisa. But did you know that the Dutch city of Delft has its own leaning tower? Part of the Oude Kerk (Old Church), the tower is regularly photographed by visiting tourists. Yet, there is more to the Oude Kerk than its leaning tower. Here are twenty more facts you might not have known about the church.
1. The Oude Kerk is the oldest church in Delft.
2. The church was considered to have been formally founded in 1246 when Delft was given its own charter by Count William II.
3. The Oude Kerk used to be named St. Bartholomew.
4. Its famous leaning tower was finished in 1350.
5. When a fire broke out at the nearby New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) on May 3rd 1536, the Oude Kerk was also badly damaged.
6. The windows of the church were destroyed in 1654 when a gunpowder depot exploded in the city. [clickToTweet tweet=”#Netherlands – The first stained glass window was installed in Delft’s Old Church in 1406. ” quote=”The story of how the oldest church in Delft was founded takes us right back to the dark days of the early Middle Ages. Photo Credit: ptnphoto/Shutterstock The first stained glass window was installed in Delft’s Old Church in 1406, and more were added in the same century.”]
7. After another fire in 1921, the church was closed for almost three years.
8. The first stained glass window was installed in 1406.
9. Now the church has 27 stained glass windows, each of which tells its own story.
10. Today the church has three pipe organs.
11. Johannes Vermeer, the famous painter, is buried in the church. It was not until 2007, however, that he received a large memorial stone.
12. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, the scientist that ‘invented’ the microscope, is also buried in the church.
13. No one knows who made the church’s pulpit but it is known to date back to 1548.
14. There are two bells in the belfry—the Trinitas bell and the Laudate.
15. The Trinitas bell weighs almost 9,000 kilograms and has a diameter of 2.3 meters—making it the largest historic tolling bell in the Netherlands.
16. The Laudate was taken by German occupying forces in 1943 with the intention of being melted down. Luckily, this didn’t happen and the bell was re-installed in 1946.
17. Seven large name boards can be found in the church. These list (in chronological order) the names of all the ministers that have served the Reformed Municipality of Delft since 1572.
18. The church’s tower is crooked and is often called ‘Scheve Jan’ or ‘Crooked John/Jan’.
19. It leans because the heavy stones of the tower were too heavy for the former canal that it was partly built on top of.
20. The tower is now stable but in the past, the people of Delft feared its collapse.
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