Instant Cities: Utrecht

Utrecht › Places and landmarks

Dom Tower

Domtoren

The tallest church tower in the Netherlands, 112 metres of Gothic brick and stone, standing on its own since a storm blew down the nave.

See it in 3D Watch the tour

Photo: Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Domtoren was built from 1321 to 1382 as the bell tower of the cathedral of Saint Martin, and at 112 metres it is still the tallest church tower in the country. You can see it from far out in the flat land round Utrecht.

Since 1674 it stands apart from its church: a storm blew down the nave in between, and the gap was never rebuilt. A guide takes you up its 465 steps, past the bells and the carillon, to a view over the whole province. Visit it in 3D ›

More in Utrecht

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. AcademiegebouwThe main building of Utrecht University on the Domplein, where the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579. 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.