Friday, March 28, 2008

Memorial in Glass


The Old Church (Oude Kerk) in nearby Delft dates to 1246, but various calamities (fires and gunpowder explosions), not to mention the iconoclasm of the protestant reformation, kept the windows plain until the 1960s, when new stained glass windows were commissioned. This window celebrates Koningin (Queen) Wilhelmina, the longest serving dutch monarch (1890-1948).

The window appears to show her return to the war-torn Netherlands after WWII (where she ruled in exile from the UK). Apparently Winston Churchill once said she was the "only man in the Dutch government," a quote that says a lot about both leaders.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A glorious window or windows. Nice work. This is very nice photography.

Abraham Lincoln in Brookville, Ohio

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

wonderfull place R,
I have not been there yet so maybe an idea to visit soon, I like the different glass colours (Glas in lood) How are you doing?

Have a great weekend , please come for a visit at my blog with 48 Sky's (collage) from Luxemburg...

Greetings from JoAnn (Holland

Neva said...

This is a lovely stained glass window.....

Ineke said...

haha, from the pictures and film i have seen of wilhelmina, she even looks like it.

Lezard said...

Nice to see some contemporary glass windows in the old style! (NB I hate the letter check you have installed on your blog!!!!!!!! DOes it actually prevent any spam comment?)