Markt
The long market square between the town hall and the Nieuwe Kerk, one of the largest in the Netherlands.
Photo: Jan Geerling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Markt stretches from the Stadhuis at its west end to the Nieuwe Kerk at its east end, lined on both sides with tall, narrow houses that are cafés, shops and pancake houses today. Every Thursday the market fills it, as it has for centuries.
In the middle stands the statue of Hugo de Groot, the lawyer born in Delft, and from the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk the whole square looks like a long carpet of brick. Visit it in 3D ›
More in Delft
Nieuwe KerkThe great Gothic church on the Markt, with a tower of 108 metres, where the princes of Orange lie buried.
StadhuisDelft’s Renaissance town hall at the west end of the Markt, built round a medieval stone tower.
Oude KerkThe oldest church in Delft, on the Oude Delft, with a tower that leans about two metres over the canal.
PrinsenhofThe old convent where William of Orange lived, and where he was shot in 1584. The bullet holes are still in the wall.
Oude DelftThe oldest canal of the town, which gave Delft its name, lined with merchants’ houses and the Gemeenlandshuis.
KoornmarktThe canal where the grain was traded, now lined with cafés, houseboats and terraces by the water.
OostpoortThe last of Delft’s town gates, with two slim towers mirrored in the water.
WaagThe weigh house by the Markt, where goods were weighed for the town’s taxes.
Johannes VermeerThe painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft, who was born, worked and buried in Delft.
Delfts blauwThe blue and white pottery that made Delft famous, first made to stand in for Chinese porcelain.
Delftse DonderslagThe gunpowder explosion of 12 October 1654, which flattened a quarter of the town.
Hugo de GrootThe lawyer born in Delft who wrote the first great book on the law between nations, and escaped from prison in a book chest.