Grote kerk Grote of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk | |
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Religion | |
Affiliation | originally Catholic; from 1637 on Protestant |
Location | |
Location | Breda, Netherlands |
Geographic coordinates | 51°35′20″N4°46′30″E / 51.5890°N 4.7750°E |
Architecture | |
Type | Church |
Style | Gothic |
Groundbreaking | 1410 |
Completed | 1547 |
Height (max) | 97 m (318.24 ft) |
The Grote Kerk or Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) is the most important monument and a landmark of Breda. The church is built in the Brabantine Gothic style. The tower of the church is 97 meters tall. The plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross.
The first notice of a stone church in Breda is from 1269. In 1410, the construction of the church started with the choir. In 1468, the church was ready but in 1457 the old tower collapsed and between 1468 and 1509 the current tower was built. They continued building until 1547 when the church was finished in its current shape.
In 1566, the Reformation took place and the church was no longer Catholic. In 1637, the church became Protestant.
The tower spire burned in 1694 and the current spire was built in 1702. From 1843 onwards many restorations took place, the last big restoration took place from 1993 until 1998.
The organ in the Grote Kerk of Breda is one of the largest organs in the Netherlands and its history goes back to the 16th century. At that time, the organ only possessed 16 stops. After being displaced several times, the organ arrived at its present location in the church in 1712. After restoration of the church between 1904 and 1956, a new organ was ordered from D.A. Flentrop in Zaandam. In 1969, the new organ was inaugurated. [1]
Nowadays the church also serves as an event hall. Throughout the year there are hundreds of different events being held at the church. With room for 1000 people and in the center of the city, this is an ideal event location. Some of the events are annually recurring and some are just held once. As an example, in 2019 there was a foodtruck festival held inside the church and also a lot of fairs.
The Prinsenkapel (Prince chapel) north of the choir is the old mausoleum of the van Nassau-Breda dynasty, ancestors of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau. [2] The chapel was built from 1520 until 1525 on orders of the Lord of Breda, Henry III of Nassau-Breda. Seventeen family members are buried in the chapel.
Among them;
William the Silent intended to be buried in the chapel, but Breda was at that time occupied by the Spanish. He and most of his descendants were buried in the mausoleum in the New Church in Delft.
A special part of the chapel are the vault paintings from 1533. The frescos are made by the Italian painter Tommaso di Andrea Vincidor (a student of Raphael).
The restoration of the chapel took five years. In 2003 the chapel was reopened to the public. The vault paintings were completely restored, all adaptations from later periods were removed and the original painting restored.
René of Chalon, also known as Renatus of Chalon, was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre.
The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Reformed Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Another Haarlem church called the Cathedral of Saint Bavo now serves as the main cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam.
Count Henry III of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz, Lord of Breda, Lord of the Lek, of Dietz, etc. was a count of the House of Nassau.
Breda is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has 185,072 inhabitants on 13 September 2022 and is part of the Brabantse Stedenrij; it is the ninth largest city/municipality in the country, and the third largest in North Brabant after Eindhoven and Tilburg. It is equidistant between Rotterdam and Antwerp.
The Cathedral of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been 'completed'. In Gothic style, its architects were Jan and Pieter Appelmans. It contains a number of significant works by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, as well as paintings by artists such as Otto van Veen, Jacob de Backer and Marten de Vos. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Belgium, with its tower rising 123 meters over the city.
The Nieuwe Kerk is a Protestant church in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The building is located on Delft Market Square (Markt), opposite to the City Hall. In 1584, William the Silent was entombed here in a mausoleum designed by Hendrick and Pieter de Keyser. Since then members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been entombed in the royal crypt. The latest are Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004. The private royal family crypt is not open to the public. The church tower, with the most recent recreation of the spire which was designed by Pierre Cuypers and completed in 1872, is the second highest in the Netherlands, after the Domtoren in Utrecht.
Claudia of Chalon-Orange was Princess of Orange. In 1515, she married Henry III of Nassau-Breda, thus uniting the houses of Orange and Nassau. Their son, René of Chalon, was the first Nassau to be Prince of Orange.
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The Vrouwekerk or Vrouwenkerk, originally known as the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, was a 14th-century church in the Dutch city of Leiden. In the early 17th century, the church was attended by the Pilgrims as well as by the first colonists to settle on Manhattan.
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Engelbert II of Nassau, Engelbrecht in Dutch, was count of Nassau and Vianden and lord of Breda, Lek, Diest, Roosendaal, Nispen and Wouw. He was a soldier and courtier, for some time leader of the Privy council of the Duchy of Burgundy and a significant patron of the arts.
The Great Church or St. James' Church is a landmark Protestant church in The Hague, Netherlands. The building is located on the Torenstraat, named for its high tower. Together with the Binnenhof, it is one of the oldest buildings in The Hague. Members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been baptised and married there. The latest are King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his daughter and heir apparent Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange.
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk is a common church dedication in Belgium and the Netherlands and may refer to:
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Johanna van Polanen was a Dutch noblewoman. She was the daughter of John III of Polanen, Lord of Breda, and his wife, Odilia of Salm. The House of Polanen was a side branch of the still existing House of Wassenaer.
The Grote Kerk of Dordrecht, officially the Church of Our Lady is a large church in the Brabantine Gothic style, and the largest church in the city. It was built between 1284 and 1470, though some parts are newer. It became a Protestant church in 1572, and remains an active church, now owned by the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.
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