Sint Janskerk.The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the UNESCO list of Dutch monuments.
For a virtual tour of the church click Here
The church is dedicated to John the Baptist, the patron saint of Gouda, and was built during the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1552 a large part of the church burned, including the archives. Most information of the early period is taken from the diaries of Ignatius Walvis. Around 1350 a tower was built (only the lower part remains). In 1485 the foundation was built for the present-day choir. This expansion made the church the longest in the Netherlands, with a length of 123 meters.
The stained glass windows were made and installed primarily by the brothers Dirk and Wouter Crabeth I, in the years 1555-1571, and after a short stop for the Protestant Reformation, until 1603. During the Reformation the church was spared, because the city fathers sided with the reigning king Philip II of Spain, rather than William the Silent, representing the Orange rebels. Later, after the orangists conquered the northern half of Holland, Gouda reverted to Orange in 1572. It was only during this period that the church was in danger, and three weeks later an angry mob stormed the church and plundered the contents, but fortunately left the windows intact. The church was closed, but many wealthy regents of the city attempted to have it reopened. In 1573 the Gouda council prohibited the practise of Roman Catholic religion and in the summer of that year it was opened for the Protestant Dutch Reformed faith. You know that nowadays Protestants and Roman Catholics live in peace with each other and even attend each other's services from time to time.
That's my World is hosted by Klaus,Sandy,Ivar,Wren,Fishing Guy & Louise - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with J.
To enlarge slide click first on "View All Images"then on "Original View".
44 comments:
That stained glass window, must be so difficult to make as there are so many tiny pieces.
The church is amazing, the stained glass window stunning and the organist is just extraordinary. It takes two to play this organ it seems. The organist is so young given his musical ability. Thanks.
Sorry Elisabeth! I removed the young organist, for the video covered half of my sidebar.
Thank you Wil for such a lovely tour and lesson. Those windows are purely works of art and I would love to have the opportunity to study each.
The night view of the church from above I thought very interesting.
I liked that slide show. Very creative.
Stained glass is becoming a lost art. It is good that they are restoring these beauties.
Incredible windows and gorgeous church! What a great, interesting post for the day, Wil, as always! Enjoy your week!
Sylvia
That window is amazing, Wil. I am more determined than ever, now, to visit Gouda when we are in the Netherlands in March and April.
Thank you for sharing St. Janskirk with us.
Kay
Alberta, Canada
I so enjoyed the virtual tour. The grandeur of this church reminds me of some of the great atmospheres one sometimes sees in the best adventure computer games. When the light falls just right through the stained glass, it must really look heavenly in there.:)
What a magnificent church! the virtual tour is beautiful. I would love to go inside in person. The info was interesting also.
It's a beautiful window. It must have taken a very long time to design and build it.
It must be a beautiful church, the stained glass window is gorgeous!
Thats an awesome slideshow and the stained glass window is stunning
A window like that could keep one occupied through many dull sermons...
An incredibly gorgeous place.
What gorgeous light from that lovely stained glass window.
The windows are absolutely gorgeous. I'm glad they have survived all these years.
So much mediaeval stained glass was lost in the two great wars. It is remarkable that these windows also survived the reformation.
A wonderful post Wil.
Telkens al ik zo raam zie vraag ik me af hoeveel werk dit wel niet moet geweest zijn.
Zou terug een beetje zomer worden dus probeer er maar wat van te genieten
prachtige foto van dit glas in lood
Have a nice week,
Greetings, Bram
My Word Tuesday post
Seen on My World Tuesday
old stained glass windows amaze me. incredible craftmanship! and to think it's all made by hand--fascinating!
Beautiful, such a piece of art ~ thank you for sharing your part of the world.
Impressive! Those old stained glass windows are marvellous pieces of art, and in this setting it was really a masterpiece. I'm afraid I have only found Junk...
a very stunning stained glass window and it deserves the UNESCO recognition. have a good week!
Love your take on the theme and enjoyed learning about the church!
My ABC Wednesday
Stunning stained glass windows. I find it amazing how they still look after being created in the 1500's. What a loss it would have been if they had been destroyed when other things were.
Thank you for sharing.
I really love European architecture! You just don't see it here in western Canada. Thanks for another lovely tour! :D
That's a beautiful stained glass window. Very informative post and great idea for the letter J.
A great piece of history.
What a beautiful window, colourful and intricate. I was in Gouda many years ago, how did I miss this.
(By coincidence they were having a phone in on the radio yesterday about going places and missing the thing they were famous for, like Cairo, and not seeing the pyramids, Pisa and not finding the leaning tower)hey ho.
Amazing stained glass - cannot imagine how much work went into that huge piece - thanks for sharing the photos!
Wil, regarding my Welcome Wall post. You have to nominate people and there's a fee to inscribe a name on the Welcome Wall. There's also an online database that stores all the names and more historical information. You can follow the ’Welcome Wall’
link to find out how do add names.
Oddly enough, for me, the most interesting part of the story was the backup system after the fire. librarians love informational redundancy!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
Thank you reader, - I could spend hours at your blog looking at this beautiful holy space. And the windows are magnificent. I am glad the church survived its tumultuous history.
and thank you for visiting...
What a beautiful stained glass window. I also enjoy the tour of the church. So lovely.
I love the cheese too!
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
Your world is beautiful! And a super J post. I enjoyed reading the history, as I know so very little of it, despite having Dutch ancestry and a Dutch passport until 1980.
love the design of the building.
That stained glass window is just stunning. The colors are gorgeous. We were in Gouda! I remember it just because I like Gouda cheese. I also remember how tall the policemen were there. You are a very tall people.
I saw some memorable ones in Milan Duoma. :)
Really lovely stained glass windows, amazing work.
What a huge church and huge windows!
A great work.
I'm glad there is now reconciliation among Christians.
Magnifique!
Stunning stained glass windows - the workmanship incredible.
Thank you for this very interesting tour of St. Janskirk. What an interesting history lesson. I'm glad that the beautiful windows survived, but is always sad to learn that a church is plundered of its contents. We will never know what we might have been able to learn from the documents that were distroyed.
Lovely post!
Best wishes,
Anna
Anna's J-word (abc-Wed rd-7)
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