Back in 2005, curiouswombat and frimfram set up a community and called it wild_photos, where members post and share photos of where they live on days referred to as Where I Live Days. These days occur with irregular frequency, usually about 2 years apart.

I have participated in these WILDays from the start, and when another was announced for this weekend, I betook myself and my mobile phone to Delft, a town not far from where I actually live, on a day that the sun was out and made everything look so much better.

What follows are the pictures that I took and posted in the community, so those of you who have already seen them may want to skip this post. As to the others, let me take you on a tour of Delft's two main churches.


The steeple in this picture belongs to the church we'll visit first: the New Church, dating from 1351 in its oldest parts.



On my way to the New Church, I passed this parish church of Mary of Jesse, as it's called, a fine example of late 19th century neogothic architecture.


The doors to this church.


A blue heart on a little square - I didn't get it until I read the slogan over on the Tourist Information Centre "Delft, the Blue Heart!" Blue for Delftware, of course.


Interior of the New Church (originally St. Ursula's), closely associated with the House of Orange, that inters its members here.


A corner of the interior.


A portrait in stained glass, of William of Orange, aka the Silent, founder of the House of Orange and buried in this church.


But it's not all royalty that's buried here: Delft has also honoured its favoured sons, as in this case, Hugo de Groot, or Grotius; who in the 17th century laid the foundations for maritime and international law.


After William the Silent was assassinated in Delft in 1584, the war of independence from Spain that he had led raged on, but in the early 1600s during a lull in the fighting the States-General ordered his tomb to be made the most opulent and modern for its day, to honour the 'Pater Patriae'.


Statue of William the Silent, by Hendrick de Keyser.


Monument to King William I (son of stadhouder William V) - made in Brussels in 1849. That struck me as a little ironic, as it was during William's reign that Belgium seceded from the Netherlands in 1830...





View across the nave. The rope demarcates the entrance to the Royal Vaults, which is covered with a huge ornamented slab.


Stained glass window.


I'd never climbed up the tower, so I decided now was the time. Oh dear...it just went on and on...




I found a little door when I was halfway up, and when I looked around me, I decided that halfway up was more than far enough for me.




However, it must be said that the view, of the town hall and the market place, is worth the climb!



Back on terra firma!


The old guildhall of the St.Lucas Guild (painters), which now houses the Vermeer Information Centre.


A street corner.


Another streetview.


Taking a closer look.


Exterior of the Old Church, formerly St. John's.


Inside the Old Church.


The main organ.


I was suprised to see there was a second organ, too.


No Delft church would be complete without a stained glass window dedicated to William the Silent...


Funerary monument of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the 'Father of Microbiology'.


Commemmorative plaque of Reinier de Graaf, the physician and biologist for whom the Graafian follicles are named.


Gravestone of the painter Johannes Vermeer, perhaps Delft's most famous son.


Interior of the church.


A pretty scene on a stained glass window depicting the OT story of Moses. Here, he's taken from the rushes.


And this concludes our tour of Delft, for the present at least. Goodnight, y'all!