A day in Utrecht

An exhibition at the "Catharijne Convent", and a ticket for free travel which would expire the next day, lured me to Utrecht, a very lively and interesting Dutch town any time of the year.

The trip by train from Leyden to Utrecht did not really make me very happy. The so called "green heart of Holland" wasn't green at all, the heart being in the greedy and suffocating grip of new housing estates, spreading like a cancer and with its tentacles eating up the green land – or eating out its heart! Industrial estates, new housing estates, apartment buildings and shopping centres rob any passenger of a view of the nice pasture land that once was. Old and picturesque farmhouses protected by gnarled oak trees and straight poplars to shelter them from the extremes of the Dutch climate, were totally surrounded by brick and tarmac, sad oases in a world made of stone. Only once in a while did I get a glimpse of the land, and once even of a herd of cows, probably recently released from their winter quarters and happily grazing in the open. Most residential estates lack front gardens, nor are the streets tree lined. The fronts of the houses are very bare, without  bay windows, without nooks and crannies, without any exciting architectural features, just plain walls with flat windows and a front door, the doors immediately opening on the pavement. To compensate for all the multicoloured brick houses, any useless plot of land between a main road or a railway line has been transformed into "original" wild nature, a type of untidy park land with some stray highland cows to give it a fake authenticity.

The quiet mostly residential "Nieuwe Gracht" (New Canal)

 The city of Utrecht was a blessing. It is a picturesque and old town, its canals with quays on two levels, on the lower quays access to cellars and warehouses where ships unloaded there goods. Nowadays a large variety of restaurants and cafes are housed in those cellars with nice terraces along the canals, very popular with the local population including the many students, and of course with the tourists.

Utrecht was very important throughout the Middle Ages. It is a archbishopric and before the Reformation there were lots of monasteries and convents. It has a rich musical tradition and the many interesting old churches are used for musical venues. Organ recitals, a museum with mechanical music boxes and barrel organs, it can all be found in the heart of this interesting city.

Catharijne Convent, Inner Courtyard

 

One former convent, the "Catharijneconvent" now houses a Museum for Christian art: medieval wood carvings of Biblical scenes, quite a few sculptures of Anna, Mary and Jesus, so called "Anna te Drieëen", etc. I went to see a special exhibition about Christian women throughout history: from medieval martyrs who are now revered as saints, to nuns, protestant recluses, Christian housewives, Mennonites and Anabaptists, Lutheran women, wives of ministers and in the end female preachers.  It was interesting, but not very well documented and in that way rather superficial. I had expected that the catalogue would give more in depth information, but alas, not so. A video about a protestant family growing up in the fifties and sixties, the rituals they kept and the traditions, plus the attitude of the two younger generations was a "Ah-ha Erlebnis", as the Germans so aptly call it. The permanent collection of this museum is worth seeing, even if there is no special  exhibition, and so is the building, the former convent. "Worth seeing" in fact applies to all of the centre of Utrecht.

Disciple asleep in the garden of Gethsemane (15th century, wood)

 Back of the Cathedral

Cloisters and fountain

 

I meandered along the canals, through narrow streets and alleys, had coffee and a bite in one of the many colourful establishments and ended up in the Cathedral, or rather what is left of it, as only the choir of the building still stands. The nave collapsed in a tornado in 1674. For the history, see the English part of the website of the "Dom kerk". The tower is standing quite separate from the church, is most impressive and dominates the city. It can be seen from far away, and on a clear day I could even see it from my office on the 11^th floor in the main building of the Free University in Amsterdam. The church must have been very high, for the choir is most impressive, spacious and high. The cloisters are still there, and next to the church tower is another garden which has sculptures from the original nave embedded in its garden walls.

 walled garden with sculptures

below: view of the tower from that garden

I had one hour left to browse around the big bookstore, and some antiquarian bookshops. There are antique shops galore, not to mention the many junk shops. As well as a mouth watering variety of specialist shops, cook shops, shops with a fantastic choice of haberdashery; it can all be found here. The railings along the top quays of the canals are laced with bicycles, of every make, size and colour. Market stalls make the whole atmosphere even more attractive and lively. 

 bikes and more bikes

below: the "Oude Gracht" (Old Canal) with restaurants

After all the culture I indulged in, I enjoyed an hour of fruitful shopping! But not in the shopping mall which connects the station with the centre of town. It is an atrocity, which finally one has admitted to, and there are plans to break it down and dig out the canal again which was partly filled in and once surrounded Utrecht. In the fifties, sixties and seventies a lot of damage was done to many old city centres in the name of progress. Many of those "improvements" can't be undone again. But hopefully Utrecht will be an exception and manage to restore its heritage.

I took another train route on my way back, and fortunately this really led me through the "green heart", with lush meadows, budding trees, poplars with light copper coloured leaves, big farmhouses surrounded by open land, wide skies with dark rain clouds interspersed by blue skies, unexpected bright sunrays making the fields even more green.