Utrecht › Places and landmarks
Academiegebouw
The main building of Utrecht University on the Domplein, where the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579.
Photo: Choinowski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The university’s main hall stands on the Domplein, with its Neo-Renaissance front of 1892. Behind it is the old chapter house of the cathedral, now the Aula, where the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht in 1579, the pact against Spain that became the start of the Dutch Republic.
The university was founded in 1636 and is now one of the largest in the country, and PhD graduates still get their degrees in the Aula. Visit it in 3D ›
More in Utrecht
Dom TowerThe tallest church tower in the Netherlands, 112 metres of Gothic brick and stone, standing on its own since a storm blew down the nave.
Dom ChurchWhat is left of Utrecht’s Gothic cathedral: the choir and transept, cut off from their tower since the nave fell in 1674.
PandhofThe quiet cloister garden beside the Dom Church, planted with the herbs of a medieval monastery garden.
OudegrachtUtrecht’s medieval canal, with its quays down at the water and the old cellars under the street now full of cafés.
JanskerkhofThe leafy square round the Janskerk, with a flower market every Saturday.
PieterskerkOne of the oldest churches in the Netherlands, a Romanesque church of 1048 with a crypt under its choir.
Museum SpeelklokA museum of self-playing music, from music boxes to great dance organs, inside the medieval Buurkerk.
PaushuizeThe house on the Kromme Nieuwegracht built for Adrian of Utrecht, who became the only Dutch pope.
Museum CatharijneconventThe national museum of Christian art and history, in a medieval convent on the Oudegracht.
Centraal MuseumThe oldest city museum in the Netherlands, with the Utrecht painters of the Golden Age and the furniture of Gerrit Rietveld.
MiffyDick Bruna’s little white rabbit, born in Utrecht in 1955, who even has her own traffic lights in the town.