Utrecht The Spine (de Spinde)

You can hardly see the small house with the red roof in front of the hughe Dom Tower.



It is called the Spinde and is the only 15th century remain of the Bishop Palace till 1803.

The Spinde was the warehouse for the Bishop Palace and stored grain and other food.

Later the building was rebuilt to a private house.

Much later the house served as a tower watchman's hut.

Utrecht The Orphanage Springweg

The portal guards over one of the sites
of the orphanage founded by
Evert Zoudenbalch in 1497

One of the most prominent families was the Zoudenbalch family (also known as Soudenbalch) throughout the Middle Ages to the age of the Dutch Revolt.

They occupied all posts of importance in the city government, possessed various lordships in the vicinity and played a leading role in the history of the Sticht.

Evert Zoudenbalch's most enduring legacy and greatest fame is due to an act of charity.

In the late fifteenth century he decided to establish the first orphanage in the northern Netherlands and left it an immense capital to finance its acts of charity.

The orphanage was an exceptional piece of gothic architecture and was dedicated to the paragon of noble charity, St. Elisabeth of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia.

The gothic complex was however damaged beyond repair during the siege of Vredenburg (1567.1568) in the course of the Dutch Revolt and the buildings were demolished.

The orphanage was then re-located to another location between the Springstraat and the Oudegracht in 1582

Utrecht The Utrecht Ship

In the base- ment of the Centraal Museum a long wreck is exposed, known as the Utrecht Ship.

At December 5, 1930 it was found during excavation work and was immediately a great sensation. The newspapers were full of them.

The director of the museum in that time, Dr. WC Schuylenburg, immediately saw the great scientific importance of the find in the wreck and decided to save it.

That was easier said than done, since the preservation of wooden objects is extremely difficult.

Till the end of the 50's the theory was that the ship came from the Roman period.

After many studies the years 1000-1025 seemed to be more likely.

The wreck smells very strong, but after the renovation of the Central Museum, the ship is exposed behind glass.

Here more about this ship (in Dutch but to translate with Goodle)