#586 : Visiting the city of Vermeer and its Grand Place %%%CameraOnBoard.fr

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Idea #586 – Visiting the city of Vermeer and its Grand Place

Delft is a city and a municipality of the Dutch province of Holland-Southern The name would come from the verb “delven”, which means “digging”, in reference to the oldest channel of the city, the oude Delft. In 1467, Delft obtained its rights of citizenship of count Guillaume II of Holland. In 1572, William of Orange, a main figure of the revolt against Spain, which led to the independence of the Provinces, settled its residence in Delft. He was murdered in the city in 1584 and burried in the nieuwe kerk (new church); by tradition, his descendants, among whom the current sovereigns of the Netherlands, are burried there since then also. From 1602, Delft was one of the seats of the Dutch Company of East Indies, which held the monopoly of the business between Asia and the Provinces. This trade was at the origin of the earthenware manufacturing in the city. On October 12th, 1654, the city was ravaged by the explosion about 30 tons of gunpowder stored in its arsenal, which destroyed a good part of the city, killing hundred people and by hurting several thousands. In 1632, Johannes Van der Meer, said Vermeer, was baptized in Delft; he is burried in the same city on December 15th, 1675, in the Oud kerke (old Church).

Video 1 : discovering Delft