This page simply reformats the Flickr public Atom feed for purposes of finding inspiration through random exploration. These images are not being copied or stored in any way by this website, nor are any links to them or any metadata about them. All images are © their owners unless otherwise specified.
This site is a busybee project and is supported by the generosity of viewers like you.
Maastricht | Маастрихт, 07-04-2018.
Vrijthof op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
Sint-Servaasbasiliek op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
Sint-Janskerk op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
My Maastricht set
Maastricht | Маастрихт, 07-04-2018.
Vrijthof op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
Sint-Servaasbasiliek op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
Sint-Janskerk op Wikipedia (Nederlands)
My Maastricht set
Europe, Netherlands, Zuid Limburg, Maastricht, Vrijthof, St Jan, St Servaas, Militaire Hoofdwacht (slightly cut from L & B)
The Vrijthof, one of the squares of Maastricht. Arguably the most beautiful one.
For me, being mainly interested in modern architecture, it's common to experience these buildings"as they are" and not pose too many questions about them. But this arrangement of buildings is so rich and striking and with potentially many interesting links to local architectural and religious practices, that I made an exception. And this is what I learned:
From left to right: the "twin churches": Sint Jan (12-15th century, bell tower 15th century, Early and late Gothic, Protestant), Sint Servaas (6th-18th century, Romanesque (core construction), Roman Catholic) and the militaire Hoofdwacht (1774, Classicist, old military HQ)
Both the St John (the Baptist) and St Servaas churches are partly constructed with "kalksteen" (lime stone), the local stone type called "mergel" (marl) a porous and soft stone - for instance the late Gothic tower of the St John. The early Gothic other parts of this church were built with "Namense hardsteen" (Calcaire de Vinalmont) also chalk, but tougher and less susceptible to degradation due to the climate then the local marl.
To protect the partly mergel churches they were painted and red was used, the colour of the local Roman Catholic church parish. Through the ages the colour faded and coats of white and later yellow paint were added. Ironically it was the Protestant bell tower that was painted red again after the most recent renovation (1984).
A remarkable architecture fact of St Johns church is that due to the narrow building plot, it is has its typically Gothic supporting buttresses on the inside of the ship of the building, hence its slender profile.
A remarkable historical fact about the twin churches is that the Dutch republic (Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden) which ended the Spanish rule of the province of Limburg in 1632, tolerated the Roman Catholics to continue religious practices in most of the churches. The St Servaas was one of them. The St Jan was not. In the beginning it was a somewhat uneasy neighbourship. Well into the 17th century there have been reports about "wolvendansen" (wolf dancing): the ringing of the Roman Catholic bells of the St Servaas during the Protestant services of the St Jan, trying to disrupt them ;-).
More info about St Jans: here
More info about St Servaas: here
Info about the Militaire hoofdwacht: here
Shot hand held @ IS0 800 and 1/8s.
Militaire Hoofdwacht on the Vrijthof Square in the center of Maastricht, Netherlands
