Dutch Letters: Delft in August

This is the first of my "catch up" postings. Kate visited us for a week in August before she headed back to begin her senior year at Vanderbilt. On one of those days, she, Lori and I visited Delft, a picturesque town about 10 minutes train ride from Den Haag.

Many people know Delft from the famous blue and white pottery. This design was actually brought back to Delft from Asia-Pacific by the Dutch East India Company in the 1600's. In an interesting reversal of today, the Dutch copied the Chinese designs and later exported into China, undercutting the local producers on price. The Delftware is still manufactured by several local companies today. Other notable, but not necessarily pleasant, Delft events include an early case of water pollution....in the 1600's the canal water became tainted, forcing 180 of the 200 breweries to close. In 1654, the "Thunderclap", an accidental gunpowder explosion leveled half of the town. And William the Silent was killed at his home in Delft, but maybe we've already heard enough about him.

William's death did provide somewhat of a benefit to Delft. At the time of his death, Breda was the official capital and burial place for royalty. However, it was in the hands of the Spanairds who were probably not going to agree to a cease fire in order to conduct a royal funeral for their bitter enemy. So William is buried in the New Church in Delft as have most members of the House of Orange since that time, including Queen's Wilhelmenia and Juliana.

Another famous resident was Johannes Vermeer painter of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "View of Delft". Unfortunately, fame did not bring wealth and he died at age 42 from "economic woes" (I'm not quite sure what that diagnosis means). We've seen both of those painting in the Den Haag and they are truly amazing. The other amazing thing is that he painted in his home with 11 children!

Perhaps I'll add just one more thing about William the Silent. His mausoleum is in the Nieuwe Kerk and includes an elaborate marble structure. Part of the carvings include one of his faithful dog, who legend has it, starved himself to death after William's murder so that he could rejoin his master. Based on his eating habits, I don't think we could expect the same from our dog, Graber.