Naarden

The Naarden Town Hall

Several weeks ago we traveled to Naarden, a small town on the east side of Amsterdam that dates back to the 10th or 11th century.    The Spaniards burned the town to the ground and killed most of the inhabitants in 1572.  Luckily they spared the 14th century Grote Kerk (Church).  It contains a wooden vaulted ceiling with 22 painted panels, half depicting the Old Testament and half depicting the New Testament.  The town itself is shaped in a star formation surrounded by double walls and thick earthen ramparts.

Distant view of the Grote Kerk steeple

The wooden vaulted ceiling

A close up of one of the panels

No soccer on the Grote Kerk lawn

One of three bridges allowing access to the old city.  

The earthen ramparts now serve as a park

One thing the ramparts don't keep out is gophers

Besides being able to walk around a well-preserved old Dutch town, we went to Naarden to attend an Art and Antiques Fair.  There was more art than antiques and all the dealers had their prices pretty high, so we didn't do much buying.  We did manage to buy a 18th century wall clock from North Holland and an early 18th century French wall clock.  Both of them chime on the hour and half hour, 24 hours a day so there is lots of chiming in our house now.  The weights on the Dutch clock have to be reset every day, so sometimes I "forget".

Dutch Clock, circa 1760's