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Gouda - St. Janskerk (St. John's Church)

City: Gouda is a city in the province of Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands. The city is located where the rivers de Gouwe and Hollandse IJssel meet. It derives its name from de Gouwe. Gouda is the mentioned for the first time in 1139 in a charter from the Bishop of Utrecht. The city received its city rights in 1272. Over the centuries Gouda has been known as a tolerant city including religiously. Also printers have enjoyed freedom to publish controversial writings. A nice description of Gouda: "When we say the name of Gouda, we think immediately not only of cheese, pipes, syrup waffles and pottery but also of stained-glass windows, a fairytale Town Hall and charming canals. Gouda is a cosy, old Dutch city which still retains almost all of its old city centre. "- www.vvvgouda.nl.

Building: St. Janskerk (St. John’s Church) The St. John's Church has an area of 127 square meters making it the largest in the Netherlands. The oldest church on this site was built in 1280. The present Church dates mostly from before the great fire in 1552. Up until 1572 this church was used by Catholics. After the Reformation -in 1573 -it came into Protestant hands . The church building is still owned by the Reformed church in Gouda. The church is especially famous for its stained-glass windows: ' Gouda Glasses '. These windows depict images from Biblical and patriotic history.

Object: God's name is seen here in a stained glass window. The window that we are showing is window 7. In the middle the ' last Supper' is depicted. The picture above it is ' the inauguration of the temple by King Solomon. " This window was donated by Philip II, King of Spain and his wife, Mary Tudor, Queen of England. Dirk Crabeth was the artist. The current history goes back to the iconoclastic era in 1622. On three windows there was an image of God which was impossible in the eyes of the iconoclasts. The glass panels were therefore removed. This was also the case with this window. In the last century there was a more tolerant policy and the windows were restored. Because nothing remained to enable them to reconstruct window 7 it was decided to place God’s name painted on glass: JHWH.

 

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