Delft

Next stop for the day was Nieuwe Kerk, the new church, which is still a very old church. Formally the Church of Saint Ursula, this 14th century church is the burial place of the princes of Orange. In 1584 William the Silent was entombed here in a mausoleum where the members of the House of Orange-Nassau have since been entombed. The latest royals to be buried in the Royal Crypt were Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004.

The church itself is an elaborately designed architectural monument with twenty-two columns which surround the marble tomb of William of Orange. Legend has it that the small statue of a dog at the prince's feet starved to death following the tragic death of its owner, the prince. All around the church are memorabilia from the Dutch Royal family including paintings, and stained glass windows. The painted wooden ceiling over the marble tomb is simple yet eye-catching as once again the walls of this church are unadorned except for art work and stained glass windows. There is such a strong feeling in the simplicity of this space.

Once again the history and meaning behind the stained glass windows, the tombs, sculptures and art work is clearly explained and we learnt a lot about the history of the royal family.

Part of our admission ticket was the option to climb the 380 spiral worn wooden steps of the church tower. With my phobia of stairs that aren’t stable, I had to give it a miss but Brad made the climb up. Even he said it was a bit confronting. Thankfully he managed to grab some photos of the amazing view over the town and I managed to photograph him at the top. The church tower is the second highest in the Netherlands and Brad climbed a long way up. He was happy to get back to solid ground.Read more