Prinsenhof
Museum Prinsenhof Delft
The old convent where William of Orange lived, and where he was shot in 1584. The bullet holes are still in the wall.
Photo: Jan Geerling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Prinsenhof was the convent of Saint Agatha until the Reformation. William of Orange, the prince who led the Dutch Revolt against Spain, made it his home in Delft.
On 10 July 1584 Balthasar Gérard, a Catholic who wanted the reward that King Philip II of Spain had put on the prince’s head, shot him on the stairs. The holes the bullets left are still in the wall. Today the Prinsenhof is a museum of the history of Delft and its Golden Age. 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.
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.
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.