The New Church & Royal Mausoleum, Delft

[Marengo]

On Sunday the New Church is still used for religious services and closed for other visitors. The church can also still be used for wedding and funeral services. The rest of the time it can be visited and there are no religious services.

https://oudeennieuwekerkdelft.nl/bez...gemeente-delft

[Marengo]

Due to the restauration works the coffin of Queen Anna Pavlovna has been moved. Her remains will be laid in a new coffin, which will be placed on the original spot in the vault.

https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/actuee...oud-grafkelder

[Duc_et_Pair]

Translation from the previous post:


"On 22 October one of the coffins was moved out of the Royal Vaults, to store the remains in a new coffin. It concerns the remains of Queen Anna Paulovna. The new coffin will be placed at the original location of the old coffin in the Royal Vaults in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.

The re-encasing will take a few days and will take place in Rotterdam. The activities are carried out by the 'Special Funerals' team of Monuta. The members of the royal family adhere to the fact that the remains of their ancestors are kept in a dignified and sustainable way in the Royal Vaults."


Anna Paulovna Romanova, Grand-Princess of Russia (1795-1865) was a daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and his wife Sophia Dorothea Augusta Louisa of Württemberg, better known in Russia as Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. When Anna was six years old, the Tsar was murdered and succeeded by her eldest brother, Alexander. In 1816 the Grand-Princess married the Prince of Orange (the later King Willem II of the Netherlands, Grand-Duke of Luxembourg).

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

The New Church in Delft (1496) has been extensively restored. At first sight there is no difference with before the restoration, but all the rooftiles, the leadwork, the pipings, the cement joints, etc. are as new again. Under the floor special installations have been made for TV-broadcasts of future royal funerals.

The most major change is that the ceilings are quite more clear now and that all the copper chandeliers have been removed. The architect thought that the 15th C "line of sight" should be free to experience the space.

The nave before (dark ceilings and chandeliers)

The nave after (clean ceilings and a free sight)

The ceiling of the choir before

The ceiling of the choir after

A new portal has been constructed inside the tower

The reception in the tower

The visitor centre (no more cluttering of tourists inside the church itself)

An orange carpet leads a multimedia-tour alongsode the epitaphs for members of the House Orange-Nassau

The entrance to the burial vaults is not visible, apart from a marble deckstone. For funerals the floor is opened.


It is a quite spartan looking church. It seems that the beauty lies in the unchanged original 15th C floorplan. In all these centuries it has not been cluttered with additions, fences, chapels, etc. It remained clean and empty.

More importantly imo (as a former attender of church services in the Nieuwe Kerk), the pews have been removed and been replaced by chairs which changes the experience and feel of the church. I wonder how it will be heated now as that was done by heating tubes at your feet integrated in the pews.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Somebody

More importantly imo (as a former attender of church services in the Nieuwe Kerk), the pews have been removed and been replaced by chairs which changes the experience and feel of the church. I wonder how it will be heated now as that was done by heating tubes at your feet integrated in the pews.

Maybe floor-heating under the tiles? The had to dig anyway to enlarge underground space and to provide connectivity for TV broadcasts, all invisibly reworked under the floor.

What is your opinion on the new look?

[An Ard Ri]

Imagine what the Nieuwe Kerk looked like before the fire of 1536 and the iconoclasm of the reformation,I'd imagine it was a richly decorated church.