Holy Apartment

There are plenty of jokes about not being able to go far at all without coming across yet another church in Europe. They’re everywhere! Though I grew up in the Southern part of the US which certainly doesn’t have any shortage, either. Yet sometimes there end up more churches than needed. Demand has dropped. So what do you do with these beautiful buildings? In some cases, you turn them into apartments.

St. Martinus, a former Catholic church, was built in 1901 by architect A. Tepe in the Neo-Gothic style. By the 1970s, it was falling into disrepair and it was around 1988 that it was converted into apartments as they stand now.

One side of the building looks out onto a street, but the other side looks out over the Oudegracht. On that side, there’s still a statue of St. Martinus.

Wordless Wednesday: Evening Domtoren

Sunny Sunday and St. Augustine

After a frequently grey and misty week, this morning was a real stunner with pure blue skies over Utrecht and nary a cloud to be seen. With the trees slowly turning their summer greens to autumnal reds, oranges, and yellows, taking a walk through the quiet Sunday morning streets was irresistible.


Charlie and I found ourselves at the Oudegracht and decided to head north and admire the classical architectural style of Augustinuskerk (St. Augustine Church) up close. I’ve always loved the soaring Doric columns and triangular pediment that frame the entrance, but as I looked beyond these eye-catching elements, I also noticed a Greek key pattern over the three doorways, as well as some ecclesiastical decorations overhead. The gold colors, even out of the direct rays of the sun still shimmered in the morning light.


However, as it was approaching 11 a.m., I was surprised to see the iron gates and the large green doors closed up tight. Not what you’d expect on a Sunday morning! It turns out the church suffered some interior roof damage, with pieces of the ceiling decorations having fallen. As it stands, there’s still investigation and repairs to be done before it is deemed safe to open to the public once again. Unfortunately, it may not be open before Christmas.

Just a Street in Utrecht (Wordless Wednesday)

My Utrecht Art Collection

It should come as no surprise that I have a fondness for old photos of Utrecht and contemporary art inspired by the city. Over the past few years, I’ve been creating my own little collection. I don’t have as much as I would like, but I do have a list of artists and images I hope to add some day. For now, though, I have a small gallery wall that makes me happy.

The large print on the right was one of my first pieces. I’d seen it on Pinterest first, actually, but couldn’t find any info about it at the time (one of the drawbacks of the site). Eventually, though, I found the print itself at one of the local art stores and couldn’t resist. It’s a great collection of Utrecht symbols including lovely Lepelenburg Park, the Willibrord statue, Broodje Mario, the train station, and one of Rietveld’s chairs. What’s not to love?

To the left is an old print of the Paushuiz as it originally looked before the additions. Beneath that is the first print I bought from Ellessi at one of the Christmas markets. I just fell in love with her style. That day, I’d seen the next print to the left, on the top, but hadn’t had enough money with me to get it. The next time she was in town at one of the markets, I went specifically to get it. It’s a view of one of the cafés at the Donkere Gaard, as seen from another café that I frequent from time to time. Beneath that is another old print of the Oudegracht and the old crane that used to stand by the Winkel van Sinkel. Tucked in the corner is one of my own small photos that I have a fondness for.

The small picture on the bottom left is an antique postcard of the Breyerskameren, a view I get daily, as it’s across the canal from the park where we’ve taken our dogs over the years.

And on the top far left is my first print from L-Tuziasm. He’s a local artist I’ve written about previously. I absolutely love his work and hope to purchase one of his paintings some day. Each year, though, he does a limited print of the Domtoren. This was the first one I was able to get. However, I recently added a second one, the most recent one he’s done.

I had requested my copy, but a while later he contacted me to work out a barter. He was putting together a catalogue of some of his work and wanted to include an English translation. I helped him with that in exchange for the print (and a copy of the catalogue). Awesome deal! I might need another print before I can hang it, in order to get things balanced. For now, it’s sitting happily beneath the gallery wall, with one of my own photos and a few odds and ends.

Wordless Wednesday: Cathedral Colors

Huize Molenaar Viewbox

I regularly see things related to Utrecht on Twitter or Facebook that interest me. As a reminder, I open up a separate tab in my browser and hope to get around to following up on it in the not too distant future. I’m not always successful, as I kept one tab open for more than a year before finally giving up on it.

Today, however, I’m able to close two tabs. One was for the Heksen van Bruegel (Bruegel’s Witches) exhibit at the Catharijneconvent Museum. I may or may not post on it, as it was mainly for a bit of research for an article I’ll be writing on Bruegel in the future. However, today was the last day of the exhibit, so it was now or never! The other tab I can close relates to the Huize Molenaar and more specifically, a viewbox on a lamp outside of the building.

I’d seen the viewbox somewhere online and was curious to see it myself, so I’ve had the Huize Molenaar website open for around a month. I’d forgotten about it while I was showing my friend around the other weekend, otherwise I could have checked it off my list earlier. I had honestly forgotten about it again today, until I was walking past the building itself and suddenly from the deep recesses of my mind, I remembered that there was something specific related to this building that I wanted to see. Finally, it clicked, just as I was about to walk past the lamp to which the viewbox is attached.

Huize Molenaar is used for private events, ranging from meetings to wedding receptions, and they offer fine dining for any of the events. They’ve been hosting private events since 1892. The viewer shows what looks to be an old photo from one of those earlier events. Ultimately, it’s just one of those cute, quirky things that makes walking down the streets of Utrecht that little bit more interesting.

A Big Yellow Building and the Moon

Any wander around town when friends are visiting deserves a brief stop at the Willem Arntsz Huis. Between the amazing building and the big yellow birdies, it’s definitely worth a short stop. So while my friend was visiting last weekend and we happened to be in the vicinity, we took a quick detour. It wasn’t that late, but dusk was arriving and the moon was already out, so it created a nice setting for some simple silhouettes of the lamp posts and the bare branches of the tree. The photos aren’t as crisp as I would have liked, but they’re not bad for having been taken with a phone.

Paus Adrianus VI

I saw earlier this week that a statue of Pope Adrian VI had been installed in front of the Paushuize, so deciding on where to go for my long walk with Charlie this morning was a no-brainer. I’ve written about this pope and his house here in my blog and even for a magazine article, but if you need a refresher, Adrian/Adrianus was the one and only Dutch pope. He was born here in Utrecht and built a house here in town, though he never actually got to live in it. He died (was possibly poisoned) in 1523 and there wasn’t another non-Italian pope again until Pope John Paul II.

The statue, by Anno Dijkstra, is up on some fancy wooden blocks, but I assume it will be more permanently installed in the future. Or not. I honestly have no idea. (Ok, I wasn’t going to do any research, but I just couldn’t stand not to do some. It seems that the wooden blocks may be permanent. The statue, which was unveiled on Thursday, is made of bronze and was inspired by the portrait of Adrian done by Jan van Scorel.)

Wordless Wednesday: Plompetorengracht