Colored Autumn, Nieuwe Kerk, Groningen, The Netherlands
Groningen has a number of medieval churches. After the so-called Reduction of Groningen (1594) to the Union of Utrecht, the very foundation of the Republic of the United Netherlands, the town became Protestant and the formerly Catholic church buildings were made suitable - 'cleansed' - for Calvinist service. But their architecture couldn't fundamentally be changed.
The Nieuwe Kerk is the first church in Groningen built specifically to the demands of Protestant rites (1665). Thus the pulpit is located in the very centre of this church with a a floor plan in the form of a Greek cross but, of course, without place for an altar...
The church yard you see in this photo was once used to bury victims of the plague; the stories are heart-rending (see my: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/5563748717/in/photolis...).
Passers-by in today's Autumnal Brightness and Prettiness have all but forgotten that moving history...
Colored Autumn, Nieuwe Kerk, Groningen, The Netherlands
Groningen has a number of medieval churches. After the so-called Reduction of Groningen (1594) to the Union of Utrecht, the very foundation of the Republic of the United Netherlands, the town became Protestant and the formerly Catholic church buildings were made suitable - 'cleansed' - for Calvinist service. But their architecture couldn't fundamentally be changed.
The Nieuwe Kerk is the first church in Groningen built specifically to the demands of Protestant rites (1665). Thus the pulpit is located in the very centre of this church with a a floor plan in the form of a Greek cross but, of course, without place for an altar...
The church yard you see in this photo was once used to bury victims of the plague; the stories are heart-rending (see my: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/5563748717/in/photolis...).
Passers-by in today's Autumnal Brightness and Prettiness have all but forgotten that moving history...