Utrecht Payenborch

In the Middle Ages Utrecht already new big houses decorated with turrets and battlements.

These houses were called 'town castles'.

One of these houses is Payenborgh, with next to it Small Payenborgh at Oude Gracht 320.

Because of costs of energy and cleaning and so on, the owners of these houses had big meetings and parties in the big house, but mostly lived their daily life in the small building.

Along the Oude Gracht you see more of these double houses.

The name is from the family Paye, who lived here from the middle of the 14th century till the end of the 15th century.

The frame of the door is from the 18th century. In 1830 the windows were replaced and the front plastered.

In 1909 the university bought the building to start an education for dental surgery.

20 Years later the education was moved to the Jutfaseweg.

On the pictures the front of the building and an old dentist chair

Utrecht Saint Nicholas 5 December

This memorial stone you can find above the door of
Oudegracht 330.

I couldn't find the back ground information.

It shows Saint Nicholas who flies on a kind of cloud to save the sailors on the vessel.

It is not clear why, according to Dutch tradition, St. Nicholas comes from Spain.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that St. Nicholas was the patron of the seafares.

In the 17th century, Holland was known for its seafare (trade and colonies).

Maybe this tradition began by the contact with Spanish sailors.

This may also explain why Saint Nicholas is helped by Black Pete's
(the Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years)

Another, more popular, statement is that the Pete’s are black since they often enter chimneys and there is no time to wash their selves :).

Utrecht Nederlands Film Festival (Dutch Movie Festival)

Every year the Dutch Film Festival is held in Utrecht.

The opening and closing is mostly is the Stadschouwburg but the organization is hosted in the old building of De Winkel van Sinkel.

The building started after a long preparation in 1837 based on the design of architect Pieter Adams (1778-1846).

The most remarkable part of the design is the four big women statues in Greek robes.

Saint Martin was born in Sabaria in 316, now called Hungary.

His parents called him after the Roman God Mars.

His father was a senior officer in the service of the Roman army.

As a 10 years old boy, Martin got interested in the Christian Faith.

While Martin was still a soldier at Amiens later, he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life.

He was at the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers when he met a scantily dressed beggar.

He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the beggar.

That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away.

He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clad me.

On the picture St.Martin cuts off a part of his cloak by which he was the first "mantelzorger":).

Utrecht St. Maarten (Saint Martin)

On the picture you see St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of Utrecht.

How came St. Maarten to Utrecht?

Well, in the Roman period in Germany lived a German nation called the Franks.

They tried to invade Holland several times but didn’t succeed.

After the Romans left Holland the invasion was successful about 476 AD.

The Franks have become Christians and started building churches in their empire.

So also in Utrecht, on the place where now the Dom Square is, by king Dagobert I in 630 AD.

The church was devoted to Saint Martin, the most important Saint of the Franks.

From that moment on you see everywhere sculptures or colours, that remind of Saint Martin, in Utrecht.

This sculpture is to be seen above the door of the Kloostergang from the Dom square side, and was lighted up during the Europa Cantate choir festival 2009.

Utrecht The Hermits: Suster Bertken

The most famous hermit in Utrecht was Sister Bertken.

Sister Bertken was born in Utrecht in the year 1426 or 1427 with the name Berta Jacobsdaughter and by that is meant Jacob van Lichtenberch.

Probably she chose for the life of a hermit because she had found out that she was a bastard. When she was 30 (1457) she was locked up in the hermitage of the Buur church and stayed there till her death in 1514 when she was 87 years old.

Her day plan consisted of praying, attending the mess, writing poems, advice people, doing needlework.

She lived a vegetarian life and her clothes consisted of a simple skirt and a coarse dress and naked feet without any form of heating in her hermitage.

In these times a renovation of the Buurkerk was planned and after her death the hermitage was pulled down and her grave destroyed. At another spot a new vault was made.

However, in 1579 also the holy cross choir was broken down and next to the Buurkerk the Choorstraat (Choirstreet) was erected.

In the Choorstreet Suster Bertken’s grave should be somewhere , but it is not for sure where it is exactly.

Now a stone is laid with the text: “Sister Bertken lived here as a hermit locked up in a niche in the bricked wall 1457-1514.wall

At the foot of the stone you see a map of the church and a golden dot shows the place where the hermitage should have been.

On the pictures the hermitage console corner Choorstraat/Vismarkt ; a book cover of Sister Bertken (Royal Library /Kon. Bibl.) and the grave stone in the Choorstraat

Utrecht Dom Towers (small)

There is one building in Utrecht that’s famous all over the tourist’s guides and

forms the skyline of the city.

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It’s the Dom Tower.

The tower is built on the place where the Romans erected their ’castellum’.

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The tower stands alone now, but was once a part of the Dom Church.

During a disaster in 1674 the church was partly blown away but the tower survived

The Dom Tower is the highest tower of the Netherlands (112,5 meters).

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Of course the tower is subject of more or less touristic souvenirs.

One of them are the “Domtorentjes” (Dom towers), chocolate with a cream centre and can be bought in the shopping street close to the Dom Tower.

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In the future more (serious) facts about the Dom in this weblog.

Utrecht The Hermits: In General

Sister Bertken (van Lichtenberg (1426/27-1514) is one of the most famous Utrecht women.

When she was about 30 years old she became a hermit (kluize-

nares).

In an other topic more about the person sister Bertken.

The first Christian hermits appeared by the end of the 3rd century.

One of the most well known hermits, and considered to be the first one, is St. Paul of Thebes (year 250).

The persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Decius was the reason that he flight into the desert to preserve the faith and to lead a life of penance and prayer.

In a hermitage, one secluded him/her self from the world to love only God entirely (‘soli Deo vacare’). It was considered as a higher way of the religion life.

A heritage should be small, and had two windows.

One window should have a view at the altar, and one window on the outside of the hermit to the seal hand over food and drinks and for the fresh air, for the door was sealed.

Only in case of illness it was allowed to break the seal and to open the door

A curtain hung in front of the windows for the people were not allowed to see the hermit.

Of course also in those times rules were made, so even for the hermitage.

The Church Meeting of Frankfurt in 794 decided that a hermit needed the approval of the bishop or an abbot.

A fixed rule was drawn up about the year 900, the Regula solitariorum, by the French priest Grimlaicus, a hermit himself.

In this document rules were mentioned about the way the hermitages should be build (see above) and so on.

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There was an impressive ceremony before someone was locked up in the hermitage.

It started with a mess and songs are sung among others the Veni Creator.

Then the person, who wanted to be a hermit, was urgently asked if it is still his/her wish to become a hermit. If so, she entered the hermitage and the door was closed.

The abbot or the head of a cloister guarded the keys. The door was indeed “hermetic” (hermetisch) closed.

In fact she was now in her coffin, for she was considered to be dead for the secular life.

That’s why also the Requiem is sung.

It will astonish you that a lot of people wished to be locked up.

There was even a waiting list, or more hermits were built.

Pictures made in the St.Jacobi Church in Utrecht

Utrecht Roman Wall, The Technique

If you go to Rots Maatwerk, and follow the path : Home/Projecten/picture Lichttechniek/Markering Castellum Domplein Utrecht, you find information about the technique behind the marks (alas in Dutch, but the pictures give also information).

On picture 1 the mark at the Domplein is still under construction.

The mark in the Servetstraat, picture 2, is already finished. You see the mist too.

Utrecht Roman Wall, The Opening Mark 3

The Domplein and the Domtower look like an oase of peace on a Sunday morning.

You hardly believe that in the year 47 a fortress was built by the Romans when they navigated on the Rhine and arrived at a dry area, where now the Dom Place is.

Here they built their fortress, called a castellum.

Studies found out where this castellum was exactly situated and marks of light and mist show the outlines of this castellum.

This night the third mark was officially opened at the Korte Nieuwstraat. The other two marks are situated at the Domstraat and Servetstraat.

It's really strange when you walk in these streets and suddenly the earth seemes to open and "steam and green light" come out from a crack in the street.

By led light the colour also can turn to blue or pink.

Utrecht Church Night & Church Cross

Friday 19 June the

"Church Night" was the opening of the project

“Visiting Churches in Utrecht”.

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The night was officially opened by the mayor.

The support came from the concert of the Cathedral Choir School Utrecht.

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After the opening in a lot of churches were all kind of activities.

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It’s no wonder that Utrecht has so many churches for in the Utrecht history the bishops and emperors played a big role in building churches, especially in the 11th century.

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The main five churches in the centre have - accidentally or not -

been built in the form of a Church Cross (see drawing above).

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The story tells that after the death of Koenraad II (+/- 990-1039) (Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) his son Hendrik III ordered to built 4 churches around the St. Salvator (1010) (now the rebuilt Dom Church).

In fact around the hearth of his father, that was burried in the St. Salvator church.

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A more likely theory is that the place of the churches had everything to

do with the solid soil.

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These other four churches are the churches of St.Pieter (1048), St. Paulus Abby (1050), St.Marie (1085), St. Jan (1040)

Utrecht Wharfs and Trade

In 1122 a dam was erected in the Rhine
near Wijk bij Duur-
stede

The conse-quence was,that
the water level in Utrecht lowered.

The city had to prevent that the traders would come into difficulties now, for the water ways could not be used anymore for transport of goods.

That’s why a new canal was dugged, the Vaartse Rhine with first a connection to the Hollandse IJssel (from Ledig Erf, Utrecht to the river Lek near Vreeswijk).

A second connection was made between the Vaartse Rhine to the Stathe (a trading centre near the present town hall) and this connection was called the (Oude) Gracht.

The tides of the water, however,were still effected by the tides of the Rhine for there was an open connection.

As a solution sluices were built to regulate the level of the canal and to keep that level constant low.

The lower water level made it possible now to make corridors from the storage cellars of the houses directly to the canal(gracht), for the water wouldn’t come into the houses anymore.

And in this way the entrance of the cellars came much close to the water.
In front of the cellars a wharf (kade) was built.
That made it easier to load the goods over from the boats to the cellars.

In 1402, when the trade increased, there was even a hoisting crane to pick up the goods from the boats.

On the peinture as well as on the memorial stone you see a part of the wharf in the still existing corner near the town hall.

Utrecht Stadsdag (2) City Day: The Two Documents

In 1122 the bishop
Godebald ruled the

city.(read the nice

backgrounds

in the to be enlarged

AD article)

He wanted to reclaim (ontginnen) the peat (veengronden) in the Kromme Rijn area.
He also wanted to build a dam in the Kromme Rijn near Wijk bij Duurstede.
This would mean that the city wasn’t easy to reach for ships anymore, so also a canal had to be duged (Vaartse Rijn).

It is clear that it would cost a lot of money to the furious citizens of Utrecht.

In 1122 the Emperor Hendrik V resided at that time at his Palace Lofen (on the Dom Square now) and it is possible that he wanted to mediate between the citizens and the bishop.

However, short after Whitsuntide the servants of the bishop attacked the courtiers (hovelingen) of the emperor. The Utrecht citizens helped the emperor and the bishop was arrested.

Imagine what a lot of people were involved on that small area.

Godebald was forced by Hendrik V to renunciation and to grant city rights to the city.

There are two documents parchments (perkament) on sheep skin. The first one (45x65 cm) contains the rights.
The second one (46x80 cm) contains details about the charge of toll.

Both were signed at Palace Lofen on Sunday 2 June 1122 and signed by the seal of the emperor.

On the right side of the close up of the document you can read (after enlarging) the name of Godebald, 3rd sentence from below.

Utrecht Stadsdag (1) City Day: The 1st Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of the Stadsdag, the birth-day of the city of Utrecht, for on June 2, 1122 the city received City rights. Today the city is 887 years old.

The tradition is that on a birthday "beschuit met muisjes" (biscuit with sucred aniseed in a form that could be a micro mouse) is eaten.

For boys the colour is blue and white, for girls the colour is pink and white and for Utrecht the colour is red and white, for these colours are the colours of the flag of city.

Also the flags on the Dom Tower and the flag in front of the Town Hall waved their red-white colours for this special occasion.

This year the celebration is a bit sober for it was hardly a month ago, on 7 May, that the Utrecht Party Leefbaar Utrecht presented a motion to celebrate this day.

But nevertheless compliments to the Catharijne Convent (museum) and the Utrechtse Archief which quickly organized this day.

Utrecht During The French Period

After the Romains,
the Spaniards and the German
you should easily forget that

Holland was also "visited" by the French

At the Ledig Erf in Utrecht is a statue on which you see the flight of the French from Holland in 1813.

On January 16 1795 the French of Napoleon, crossed the frozen rivers under command of General Pichegru to occupy the Netherlands.
It was the sign to the stadtholder Prince Willem V to flee to England.

In Holland started the Bataafs-French period (1975-1813)

This period was – how curious –not too bad for Holland.

Besides the black side of the war, the French modernized political and social sectors and reorganized the government. Among others the Code Civil was introduced.

In 1806 the Netherlands became a kingdom under the first King , Napoleon’s brother Lodewijk Napoleon.
This kingdom lasted till 1810 when Napoleon annexed Holland.

In 1813 the Cossacks and Prussians liberated the Netherlands from the French and chased the French over the border (see also the first picture near the Wittevrouwenpoort near the Biltstraat).

The son of stadtholder Willem V became king Willem I.

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Text in the plaquette: "De Fransen verlaten Utrecht den 23 november 1813" (The French leave Utrecht 23 November 1813).

Utrecht The Rainbow of Sint Pieter

In the past
(11th century)
in Utrecht were
“normal”
churches
for the citizens, and so called
“kapittel”
churches for the clergy, the canons (kanunniken).

Kings used to grant pieces of ground to such an abbey, cloister, or cathedral (kapittel church) with special rights.
Such an abbey or church, surrounded with their pieces of ground, formed a so called immunity.

The civil right didn’t count for these immunities.

They were immune for the secular (wereldse) life. Only the religion justice system counted, and no town council or police could do anything within these immunities

The immunities were separated from the rest of the city (and other communities) by walls and/or canals.

One of these immunities was the immunity of the Saint Pieter (1048) and this immunity was separated by a canal, now known as the Kromme Nieuwe Gracht.

The curve that you see is, that’s why, called “The Rainbow of St. Pieter” that surrounded a big part of the immunity.

Near the corner is a console of Jeannot Bürgi.

You see the city of Utrecht, the canals and of course the church the St.Pieter in the foreground. Above the city is a rainbow. Far above the cloudes is St. Pieter looking upstairs to heaven(?).

The only possibility to make this picture was from the water by the electric- or ”whisper” boat which makes regulary a beautiful trip throught the old small canals of the city.

Utrecht Utrechtspotting in het Nederlands

Als je deze blog in het Nederlands wilt lezen kan je hier klikken voor een vertaling.

De vertaling vanuit Google is soms erg krom, maar dat maakt niet uit, toch ? :)

Sign at the wall of a Utrecht recruitment agency

Utrecht Art VBMO

Seven VBMO schools showed their best art works at an exhibition in the Utrecht Town Hall from 4-26 March (2009).



The exhibition was called “Kunstig VBMO” ( Artistic VBMO)

(a VBMO school is literally, "preparatory middle-level vocational education" and lasts four years, from the age of twelve to sixteen)

Four pupils were from the Art Class Central College.

The Central College pays a lot of attention to art education, and has a special Art Class in which 13 pupils are educated four hours a week in drawing, painting, and other visual arts.

Here talents are discovered and developed and encouraged.

The winner was Adbdelbari Talibi, pupil of the Globe College with “Stadsgezicht" (City View) below on this site.

I prefer the painting above but of whom is it ???. (mind out the 5 FC Utrecht weapons below :))

Utrecht 7 May Liberation Utrecht

In the evening of 4 May the illegal radio reports that Norway, Denmark and Holland are set free.



The inhabitants of Utrecht are overjoyed and run into the streets.

The commander of the German troops however, doesn’t accept the capitulation and the Utrecht inhabitants are again chased into their houses. The German soldiers continue shooting.

Finally on 7 May the Canadian and British troops entered Utrecht from the direction of De Bilt.

It is the English 49th West-Riding Reconnaissance Corps Regiment “Polar Bears” under command of the Canadian Arm.

They are called Polar Bears since they were trained in Iceland. More about them next year on this blog :(.

The memorial stone, placed against the wall of Maliebaan 55 on 6 February 1947, makes the remembrance of this day lively.

(artist: Willem van Kuilenburg)

Utrecht 5 May Liberation Day

Today is Liberation Day and it is celebrated by all kinds of events among others by Liberation Festivals.


In Utrecht is a Liberation Tree at the opposite of the place where some years ago a German bunker could be seen.

The characters are in orange, the colour of the Royal Family.

The weapon in the colours red and white, the colours of the city of Utrecht.

I haven't found any information to complete this topic, so just a picture at the Servaes Bolwerk near the Nieuwe Gracht.

Utrecht 4 May Commemoration Day (2)

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Poem of Ingmar Heytze recited by himself
(november 2001)




OPGEGROEID IN GROOTSE VRIJHEID

Opgegroeid in grootse vrijheid
die niet zelf bevochten werd,
onnozel, vanzelfsprekend,
alsof nooit een volk werd uitgeroeid-
zo dom mag deze dag niet zijn.

Er staat een vleugel op een plein
met nagelhouten toetsen
onder lijkdoek, wit en bruin.
De stilte hamert een refrein.
Zo stil mag deze dag niet zijn.

Zittend voor een sprekend venster
kijken hoe de wereld brandt,
wolkenkrabbers en woestijnen
als katernen in een krant-
zwarter kon een dag niet zijn.

Wie neemt geen genoegen
met een wereld die wordt uitgeveegd?
Wie gelooft door alles heen
in liefde die een antwoord geeft,

alsof tussen verre sterren
iemand onze aarde ziet
en zich niet afwendt van haar pijn
maar zegt dat we vergeven zijn?

Met of zonder kracht van boven,
wars van oorlog en gemis,
dwars door alles heen geloven
in liefde die een antwoord is.

Utrecht 4 May Commemoration Day (1)

Every five years the National Committee 4 and 5 May determines a theme.

For 2006-2010 the theme is: “Freedom you make together”.

In 2009 the sub-theme is: “Freedom and identity”.

The background is, that thoughts about your identity, can affect the freedom of someone else as well in your private life as nation wide.

Not only the war victims of the World War II are commemorated but also the war victims who died in the whole Royal Kingdom, or wherever in the world, from the break out of WWII in war situations or peace missions.

Mr. Thomas Dres - chairman of the "Foundation 4 May Commemoration Prinsesselaan Utrecht" from the eighties on -, took this theme up in his speech, at the beginning of the commemoration of the 50 Utrecht victims of World War II, at the "Field on Honour" Prinsesselaan at the R.K. Cementary St Barbara.

Among the guests, merely relatives of the victims, was among others also the Mayor of Utrecht, Aleid Wolfsen, the alderman Harry Bosch, and last but certainly not least, the former Bishop of Rotterdam (1983 -13.3.1993), Mgr. Philppe Bär.

A grand daughter of one of the war victims told a story about her grandfather H. de Mari.

After that a wreath was layed on behalf of the local government by the mayor and the alderman.
One wreath was layed on behalf of the “Foundation 4 May" and further flowers from other present people concerned.

After "The Last Post" the city poet Ingmar Heytze read a poem with reference to the war.