Nieuwe Kerk
The great Gothic church on the Markt, with a tower of 108 metres, where the princes of Orange lie buried.
Photo: Jsamwrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Nieuwe Kerk was built from 1396 to 1496, on the spot where a Delft man is said to have seen the Virgin Mary in a vision. Its stone tower is about 108 metres tall, the second highest church tower in the Netherlands after the Dom in Utrecht, and you can climb its 376 steps.
William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Revolt, was buried here after he was murdered in 1584, and since then nearly every member of the House of Orange has been laid in the family vault below. Hendrick de Keyser made his marble tomb from 1614. Visit it in 3D ›
More in Delft
MarktThe long market square between the town hall and the Nieuwe Kerk, one of the largest in the Netherlands.
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.