Appreciating art on the streets of Delft

Since 2015, Delft has a new railway station. After six years of construction, the first trains passed through the rail tunnel on February 28th, with the official opening being on April 9th.
The entrance hall features a vaulted ceiling with a historical map of the city and surroundings from 1877, with Delft’s first station just steps away from the new one. The map also shows the city canal, which has returned along Phoenixstraat after the construction of the rail tunnel. The map, measuring approximately 70 by 110 meters, is visible both when entering from the platforms and from the city entrance. The image changes as the traveler walks through the space, as a different part of the image falls into the field of view at each point. The vault consists of 1929 straight and curved aluminum slats 20 cm high and 7 cm wide, placed 30 cm apart. The slats have printed vertical strips on both sides. The floor plan consists of almost 30 million blue dots in total. The specific color Delft blue of the floor plan is precisely matched to the tiles used in the finishing of columns and walls. The ceiling design was overall winner of the Sign+ Award in 2016 and winner in the Architectural Signage category.

On the facade of Hotel Grand Canal (Breestraat 1), a bronze model honors the Delft social reformer, publicist and world traveler Anna Maria Margaretha Storm-van der Chijs (1814-1895). She was born here and lived at this location until 1855.
Mienette, as she was called by family and acquaintances, was the youngest child and the only daughter in the Van der Chijs household. Her parents belonged to the Delft elite: her father came from a well respected merchant family and traded in tea, butter and cheese; her mother was a general’s daughter. Mienette was a prominent member of the women’s society ‘Dorcas’ (1833-1920), which provided support to needy widows, single women and large families. In 1845 Mienette married the Delft preacher Willem Storm, who unfortunately died two months later. As a widow, she then founded a learning and working school for needy girls in Delft on the Verwersdijk. She also traveled around the world; from South Africa and America to Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Mienette Storm was interested in the way of life of women in other countries, and this inspired her to take action in the Netherlands.

For example, she advocated that women should be able to practice ‘men’s professions’. She also urged that secondary schools be opened to both sexes. Because of these matters she became known as an advocate of women’s rights and played a crucial role in women’s emancipation.
In memory of Mienette Storm, a bronze plaque, made by Marian Gobius, was unveiled on her birthplace in 1955. It disappeared, but in 1999 a new one was placed by Els Benjamins. The plaque is based on the original design.

Delft artist Tijn Noordenbos painted five doors in the Smitsteeg in his characteristic cubist-realist style. One panel of the artwork Optocht met majorettes (Parade with majorettes) has unfortunately disappeared.
Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.

This bronze plaque on the facade of real estate agent Van Silfhout & Hogetoorn shows the Delft musicians couple Antonio Benedetto Fusco (Villatina, 1854 – Delft, 1943) and Giuseppina Capocci (Picinisco, 1867 – Delft, 1944), better known as the Italian organ grinder and his wife. Through this plaque, made by visual artist Els Benjamins from Heemstede, they symbolize all Italian immigrants in Delft. The unveiling of the artwork, on June 2 in 2002, was also attended by their great-grandson Antonio Fusco, who lives in Delft.

On the fence of the Girl’s House (ie. Meisjeshuis) at Oude Delft 116 hangs the bronze plaque of the famous Delft physicist, microbiologist and cloth merchant Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). Wrongly, because he lived at the Hippolytusbuurt 1. In the early twentieth century, however, this was not known and it was thought that Oude Delft 116 was his residence.

Visual artist Jan Christoffel Schultsz created the artwork in 1909 after winning a design competition for a monument honoring the seventeenth-century natural scientist. Van Leeuwenhoek is best known for the microscope he designed himself, which allowed people to see bacteria for the first time. He also made cutting-edge scientific discoveries, including red blood cells, sperm cells, and the stripe pattern on muscle fibers. He sent his findings to the Royal Society in London, a society of distinguished scientists and thus he became more widely known. On August 26, 1723, Van Leeuwenhoek died in his hometown, almost 91 years old. It is said that on his deathbed he dictated a letter to the Royal Society in which he described the fluttering of his diaphragm so thoroughly that the condition is called Van Leeuwenhoek’s disease. He was buried in the Old Church on August 31, 1723.
In 2018, researchers from Delft University of Technology and Rijksmuseum Boerhaave solved an age-old riddle surrounding Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s microscopes. They showed that the Delft cloth merchant cum amateur scholar used thin, self-sharpened lenses.

Above the entrance to the Meisjeshuis at Oude Delft 116 are two stone statues of orphan girls as the Meisjeshuis was an orphanage for girls between the years 1578 and 1954. The artwork was made by sculptor Jacob Mattheus Cressant, a son of Jacobus Cressant who settled in Utrecht from France around 1728 as a sculptor. Jacob clearly learned the trade of sculpting and stonemason from his father and received drawing lessons from Jacob de Wit. He lived and worked in Delft, later in Alkmaar. His sandstone crowns of the former Duikerluis in Zaandam (reinstated at the Wilhelmina lock) enjoy protection as a national monument. Cressant died during a family visit to Amsterdam, at the age of 59.

At the corner of Nieuwstraat/Oude Delft, this stone statue stands in a niche of the Saint Hippolytus Chapel. The origins of this building lie around 1400. The chapel was located next to the Heilige Geestzusterhuis. The oldest name of the chapel is therefore ‘Chapel of the Heilige Geestzusterhuis’. Colloquially called Holy Ghost Chapel. Over the centuries the building had various functions, as a munitions warehouse, warehouse and even slaughterhouse. From 1923 to 1966 it was the auditorium of Delft Technical College (now TU Delft). When, after the demolition of the Hippolytus Church on the Voorstraat in 1972, a group of believers remained together as a community in this medieval chapel, they chose the name ‘Sint Hippolytus Chapel’. This in honor of Saint Hippolytus, the patron saint of Delft since 1396.

The statue ‘Woman with Flame’ dates back to 1930 and was made by Delft sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne. He was born in Delft in 1895, studied at the Technical School of Applied Sciences and worked in the city for most of his life. The ‘Woman’ is not a saint, but symbolizes science. The flame is a well-known symbol of the TU and refers to the myth of Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. This made it possible for humans to make tools and develop. In Delft there are several artworks by Henk Etienne, including the sculpture of poet and critic Dirk Coster in the garden of the Meisjeshuis (see number 5) and ‘Queen Wilhelmina’ (1938) near the Koningsplein (see number 26).

In the garden of the Meisjeshuis at Oude Delft 116 stands this statue of Dirk Coster (1887-1956). This poet and critic lived and worked in Delft. Among other things he founded the magazine De Stem. The bust of honorary citizen Coster was donated in 1963 by the Catholic Student Association Sanctus Virgilius on the occasion of its thirteenth anniversary.

Sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne was born in Delft in 1895. He studied at the Technical School of Applied Sciences and for most of his life worked in the city. There are several works of art by Henk Etienne in Delft, including ‘Woman with Flame’ (1930) in a niche of the St. Hippolytus Chapel (see number 4) and ‘Queen Wilhelmina’ (1938) near the Koningsplein (see number 22).

Sculptor John Grosman was born in Delft, but spent the rest of his life in Arnhem and Amsterdam. After he was killed in an accident in 1970, the municipality purchased this sculpture from his estate and it was placed in the garden of the Meisjeshuis. The sculpture is late work by Grosman. He began as a realistic sculptor, but this satisfied him less and less; his work therefore became more abstract. The sculpture depicts a rhythmic movement through its loose elements.

On the facade of Oude Delft 147 hangs a portrait medallion: a tribute to the sixteenth-century physician Pieter van Foreest. From 1573 to 1596 he lived in this house in Delft. Van Foreest was born in the province of North Holland in 1521, studied at the University of Leuven and received his doctorate in medicine in 1543. For more than 35 years (from 1558 to 1595) Van Foreest was city doctor in Delft. He treated patients from all walks of life. He was the personal physician of William of Orange but also doctor to the financially less fortunate, whom he treated free of charge. Van Foreest and his wife Eva van Teylingen played a major role in Delft society. They held important positions, especially in the welfare sector. Van Foreest also advised the Delft city council and the national government on various medical issues, such as the plague epidemic. He also had a pioneering influence on the development of medicine. For many years after his death (1597) many medics made use of his knowledge and skills. The medallion, made by the Delft sculptor Richard de Vrijer,
was commissioned by the Pieter van Foreest Foundation in 2000.

Richard de Vrijer studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam (1970-1976) and at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam (1976-1978). In addition to free work in bronze and stone, he carries out commissions for individuals, companies and (government) institutions: sculptures, portraits, reliefs and medals.

Richard de Vrijer (1948) studeerde aan de Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam (1970-1976) en aan de Rijksacademie te Amsterdam (1976-1978). Naast vrij werk in brons en steen voert hij opdrachten uit voor particulieren, bedrijven en overheidsinstellingen: beelden, portretten, reliëfs en penningen.

Scattered throughout the city centre of Delft are about 300 ceramic pavement clinker bricks, designed by Delft visual artist Christina Linaris-Coridou. Part of a ceramics festival in 2011, the striking paving stones pointed the way to the various locations. On the clinker bricks, the word “earth” is written in various languages. This not only refers to pottery but also to the name of the festival ‘Brandpunt Terra’. The bricks were fired in the Porceleyne Fles and can therefore truly be called Delftware. The occasion for the festival was the 25th anniversary of Galerie Terra Delft, which has specialized in exhibiting contemporary ceramics since 1986.

This mural is located in the passage from Oude Delft 137 to the parking garage on Phoenixstraat. It was created in 2006 by Nicaraguan artist Julio Moreno. The artwork symbolizes the city connection between Delft and its Nicaraguan sister city Esteli. You see the flags of Nicaragua (blue/white/blue) and the Netherlands together. Artist Julio Moreno makes many murals in Nicaragua and is committed to educational projects for children.

The old commercial building on the corner of Kloksteeg / Phoenixstraat used to house a hardware store, succeeded by the current GP and health care center. The tall, gray side wall in the alley was for years the target of graffiti. Especially during the construction of the railroad tunnel, layer after layer of it appeared. After the work on the tunnel was completed and the streets were redesigned, the graffiti infestation only stood out even more. On the initiative of Dave Vanderheijden, Delft street art artist Micha de Bie brightened up the tarnished facade with a colossal mural, the theme of which ties in with the Golden Age, widely commemorated in 2018.

The colorful artwork consists of two parts. In the first part, buildings are painted in shades of color, as they appear in paintings by the seventeenth-century Delft painter Pieter de Hoogh (1629-±1684). The black and white underside refers to the tiled floors that characterize much of his work. The other part depicts historic Delven people and works of art, such as William of Orange, Hugo de Groot, Pieter de Hoogh and Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. The artwork emphasizes the alley as an intimate passage to the inner city, and as a public space that deserves this attention. With its large size, powerful, angular contours and contrasting colors, the painting is a solid addition. Micha de Bie’s project won the 2019 Le Comte Audience Award from Delfia Batavorum and the newspaper Delft op Zondag.

Micha de Bie started making graffiti around the age of twelve. After his studies at the Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam he worked at various design agencies as a desktop artist and graphic designer. In the evenings he followed the part-time course in visual communication at the Willem de Kooning Academy. De Bie combines his street art with his work as a graphic designer. De Kloksteeg is not his first work that can be admired in Delft. Previously, he painted the fences that surrounded the garden during the restoration of the New Church in 2013. At DSM on the Wateringseweg, he embellished the back wall of the factory.

At the attractive Sint Agathaplein, three striking porcelain lampposts with paintings by Wendy Steenks (formerly associated with Royal Delft) and the Chinese artist Zhang Ling Yun have been standing between the old chestnut trees since 2010. Traditional Chinese and Dutch motifs have been combined with contemporary forms. What is special is that the porcelain lampposts were made in the Chinese ceramics city of Jingdezhen, a sister city of Delft and the birthplace of the Chinese porcelain from which Delft Blue is derived. The modern objects form a beautiful contrast with the centuries-old buildings of Museum Prinsenhof Delft, among others. The idea for the porcelain lampposts comes from Amsterdam artist Adriaan Rees (1957).

At the Sint Agathaplein there is a cast iron manhole cover with an embossed image of the royal couple Willem-Alexander and Maxima and a crown (originally coloured gold). Aquafix Milieu, manufacturer of, among other things, manhole covers in Mijdrecht, made this special manhole cover on the occasion of the change of throne on 30 April 2013. All municipalities throughout the Netherlands received a copy free of charge, to place it on the village or town square as a memento of this unique event.

On the facade of The Prinsenkwartier on Agathaplein hangs the statue of a tightrope walker on a long balance beam. The artwork is placed high in the facade on a small console under a canopy where a lifting beam originally sat.
Coöperatie Prinsenkwartier Delft held an ideas competition in 2016 for the design of a special object at Agathaplein 4. At the initiative of TOP Delft, Hypo kunstsuper, Kadmium beeldende kunst, Maakbaar stadslab, DelftDesign and Museum Prinsenhof, a center for the creative industry was created where technology, art, design and society are connected. To symbolize this fact, the Prinsenkwartier wanted to make an object on the lifting beam of the facade. Arjen Spreeuwers of SPR Architectuurstudio in Delft won the facade competition. The sculpture, which was unveiled on July 19, 2019, was made possible by Bouwfonds Cultuurfonds.

The ‘father of the fatherland’ (Pater Patriae) Prince William the First (1533-1584), also known as Prince William of Orange and William the Silent, spent much of his life in Delft. From 1572 to 1584 he and his court regularly stayed at the then St. Agatha convent. Because of this, the complex has since been known as ‘Het Prinsenhof’. However, no work of art of this ancestor of the Dutch royal family could yet be found in Delft. Therefore, the Prince William First Memorial Foundation commissioned Auke Hettema to create this sculpture. He had already studied William of Orange before creating other works. The prince was rendered at the end of his life. However, he continued to believe in the struggle for freedom and tolerance. This is conveyed by the steadfast stance of the sculpture, but also by the inscription, a line from the Dutch National Anthem: ‘Standvastlich is gebleven / mijn hert in tegenspoet’. It stands on a low pedestal, so that the viewer has contact with the statue. The statue has a prominent place in the garden of the Prinsenhof. Queen Beatrix unveiled ‘Willem the Silent’ on June 18, 2003.

Auke Hettema studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. He studied at the same time as his twin brother Renze Hettema and was taught by sculptor Piet Esser. Hettema began his career as a sculptor of war and resistance monuments. He is known for the war monument in the Prinsentuin in Leeuwarden, Hugo de Groot in Rotterdam and Willem van Oranje in Delft. In 1951 he won the Prix de Rome.

Since 1988, ‘Homage to Gaudí’ can be found in the garden of Museum Prinsenhof Delft, a ceramic Delft blue sofa designed by Marianne Burgers. The artist was inspired for this sofa by Park Güell in Barcelona. In this fairytale-like city park designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) she saw a meandering bench, which stimulated her to create this ‘Homage to Gaudí’. The bench has a Delft touch thanks to the Delft blue shards with which it is clad. Delft artist Chris Dagradi created the tiles especially for this bench, which include Chinese motifs.

In the Schoolstraat stands this steel sculpture, made by the Delft sculptor Hans la Hey. It is part of a series of four sculptures entitled ‘Four directions of the wind’. Hans la Hey came to this creation in a special way. He heard the story that William of Orange had not been murdered by Balthasar Gerards on 10 July 1584 but had actually died a natural death. The 27-year-old Frenchman, born in Vuillafans, was therefore wrongly executed after four days of gruesome torture. This was done by quartering with draft horses and the various limbs were then ‘exhibited’ on the gates of Delft. Reason enough for La Hey to design four sculptures as a ‘tribute’ to Gerards; they are placed so that the Markt forms the centerpiece. The sculptures represent the four dimensions of space, namely length, width, height and depth. The other works of art are on the Nieuwe Plantage (number 32) and near the Oostpoort (number 57). The sculpture that stood on the Zuidwal has disappeared.
Hans la Hey studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as a visual artist.

There is a beautiful stone statue in a niche above the door of Schoolstraat 5. It was made in 1614 by Hendrick de Keyser, the famous Amsterdam master builder. The statue represents Charity, or Charitas in Latin. For centuries the building housed the Chamber of Charity, the forerunner of social services. The poor of Delft could come here for support. The Protestant Church and the city government worked together in this organization to alleviate the worst poverty.
Hendrik de Keyser also designed the tomb of William of Orange in the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church), the city hall and a gateway for the Latin School, at the time still on the other side of the Schoolstraat. The small statues in the niche were added later. The protective latticework can already be seen on 17th-century engravings.
The Chamber of Charity, founded in 1597 for the care of the poor, is now used by the Museum Prinsenhof for meetings and gatherings. The Chamber and the adjoining garden can also be rented as a wedding location.

The Prinsenhof was originally part of the fifteenth-century St. Agatha convent. In August 1572 Prince William of Orange chose Delft, which was well defended, as his seat. He regularly stayed in the monastery complex that had been appropriated by the reformed administrators. Over the years the separated half of the monastery chapel housed a cloth hall of the Merchant Adventures and from 1645 the Guild of Clothiers and Merchants. The guest quarters of the Prinsenhof were set up in 1658 as a saai, greine and stoffe hall. (‘Grein’ is textile, part of which consisted of yarn made of silk; ‘saai’ is a plain, slightly pebbled fabric.) Above the gate on Oude Delft, a large stone was placed with the name and a relief, showing the activities in the cloth hall. Above this is the coat of arms of Delft and the text Anno 1658. The sculpture was carried out by Pieter Rijckx, Delft’s city stonemason from 1658 to 1663. The gate was altered in 1775, when the Latin School was also established in part of the Prinsenhof.

Geertruyt van Oosten (±1320-1358) was a beguine in the Bagijnhof on Oude Delft. She did not lead such a pious life out of purely Christian considerations: she had just been left by her fiancé. Her life as a beguine is said to have been very special. Because she was so absorbed in spiritual contemplation, milk is said to have come out of her breasts forty days after Christmas. She is also said to have received the stigmata on Good Friday: she received wounds that Christ also had at his crucifixion. These wounds bled seven times a day until forty days after Easter. She is also said to have had a vision of where the New Church should be built. During her lifetime she was considered holy, although this was never recognized by Rome. The statue, on which the year of birth 1330 is erroneously written, stands near the Old Church where she was buried at the time.

Sculptor and illustrator Arie Teeuwisse is among the most prominent figurative artists of the second half of the twentieth century. He is best known for his animal sculptures, but has also often depicted the human figure. From 1963 to 1982 he taught sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. He lived and worked in Amsterdam, but from 1969 on had a second studio in Uffelte. He also made the statue of Stalpaert van der Wiele at the Bagijnhof (number 21).

On Oude Delft, across from gallery and coffee house Uit de kunst (From art), is an old-fashioned phone booth. The telephone booth, named Voor de kunst (For art), is the smallest museum in the Netherlands and every month a different artist exhibits here. The exhibitions in this phone booth are free to visit, 24/ 7, and they have fascinated tourists and visitors from all over the world for over twenty years . Delft artist Tijn Noordenbos, owner of gallery Uit de kunst, is the museum director and curator.

Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.

Sculptor, painter and draughtsman Bas Maters made this sculpture on behalf of the municipality. He brought back the atmosphere of the court, where the entrance to the church used to be. Here help was offered to citizens who needed it. The bowl is, as it were, an expression of shelter and protection, while the horn is linked to calling and hearing, the rising and falling, with the earthly and the heavenly, according to Maters. In addition to this work, Maters also designed a pergola with lighting and benches for the Heilige Geestkerkhof.

Bas Maters studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem from 1966 to 1971. He was a member of the Groep Abals and Teldesign, and became best known as an environmental artist. Maters taught at the Department of Architecture, Design and Monumentalism of the Arnhem Academy. He passed away in 2006.

Not only is Delft a city of innovation, it is also a city with a considerable reputation in the art world. Artists like Johannes Vermeer, Michiel van Mierevelt en Jan Schoonhoven are from Delft but also Carel Fabricius, Jan Steen en Pieter de Hooch lived and worked here. To this day Delft still dedicates a large portion of its public space to art by local contemporary artists. Barbara Termorshuizen, for example, painted the electricity box on the Voorstraat, a colorful scene of flowers and animals, opposite the Old Church.
Barbara Termorshuizen grew up in Pijnacker but currently lives in Delft and has her studio Bart Illustration nearby on the Verwersdijk. Barbara is originally an illustrator, at first working in fashion illustration. But the menus at cafe Hanno at the Doelenplein in Delft are also her design.

On the Voorstraat, at the back of the Oude Kerk, lies the imposing artwork ‘Echo’ by artist Nynke Koster. She started the realization in 2019 as part of the theme year ‘Delft and the Golden Age’. With the artwork the artist depicts the many and great contrasts from this economic and cultural golden age in Dutch (and Delft) history. On the concrete disk of 6.5 meters diameter, various Delft monuments are reflected. Even the imprint of the floor of the Oude Kerk is incorporated! There are also beautifully detailed skulls to be seen. In the middle is a crown on which the public can sit. Residents of Delft were closely involved in the creation of the artwork. In workshops they made casts of pieces of ornament from the Nieuwe Kerk; some of these are incorporated in the object.

The Delft Bagijnhof came into existence in the Middle Ages with the oldest reference to the court dating back to 1271. It was probably founded by Maria van der Made, whose brother Bartholomeus founded the Old Church. In the beginning the Delft beguines lived in a house on the Oude Delft. When this house became too small, they built the court between the Oude Delft and the city wall (today the Phoenixstraat). One of the most famous inhabitants of the convent was Geertruyt van Oosten, who died in 1358. Her statue is on the Oude Delft near the Oude Kerk (see number 6). In the courtyard is the entrance to the HH Maria and Ursula Church of the Old Catholic parish, built in 1743. Of the monastery a natural stone Gothic gate remains on the Oude Delft with a weathered relief: Johannes op Pathmos.

Johannes Stalpaert (or Stalpart) van der Wiele (1579-1630) meant a lot to the Catholics in Delft from the moment he became pastor in 1612. Catholics were severely disadvantaged at that time. Among other things, he set up a convent for them at the Bagijnhof. In addition to his pastoral work, he was rector of the Bagijnhof and the St. Agatha convent. Among the most prominent poets of the Counter-Reformation, He also wrote spiritual songs and hymns for saints. After his death he was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft. The statue to commemorate Stalpaert van der Wiele was placed near the church where Van der Wiele preached. Today this is the Old Catholic Parish HH Maria and Ursula.

Sculptor and illustrator Arie Teeuwisse is among the most prominent figurative sculptors of the second half of the 20th century. He is best known for his animal sculptures, but has also often depicted the human figure. From 1963 to 1982 he taught sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. He lived and worked in Amsterdam, but from 1969 had a second studio in Uffelte. He also made the statue ‘Geertruyt van Oosten’ at the Oude Kerk (number 15).

On a narrow side street of the Bagijnhof lies the Hofje van Almonde. Originally this little courtyard was the home of its founder Magdalena van Almonde. She was a rich, educated woman who had suffered all the consequences of the Reformation. Therefore she turned her house into a ‘free house’, where poor women could live for free. Perhaps she hoped to continue the beguine life on a small scale. The courtyard was made available in 1607 by Magdalena van Almonde in her will for ‘Catholic virgins and maidservants, who are small in wealth and do not desire the marriage state’. In 1855 it was rebuilt in its present layout with seven cottages in an austere traditional-classic style. The courtyard was restored in 1989-1990. When 2007 marked its four hundredth anniversary, the d’Oultremont Foundation placed a commemorative stone on the facade.
Herman van Elteren was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1928. He studied at the Middelbare Kunstnijverheidsschool and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. His teachers were the sculptors Oscar Jespers and Charles Vos. He then attended the Drama School Arnhem, where he graduated in 1960. Van Elteren worked as an actor, designer of costumes and sets, and as a sculptor and illustrator.

Dirklangendwarsstraat is a side street of Dirklangenstraat, constructed in 1883 by the Bruigom brothers. The cow on the side wall is a mural from 1976. The painters, Job van der Blom and M.C.S. van Meuk, copied the vinyl cover of Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd.

‘The Water Bearers’, produced by De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, was a gift from the people of Delft to the Royal Shell Plastics Laboratory Delft (KSPLD) in 1964. The work of art by sculptor, ceramist, draftsman, glass painter and monumental artist Henk Tieman is a thank you for the clean drinking water. Before being distributed by the laboratory in 1963/1964, the drinking water in Delft was heavily polluted due to problems with the water supply. In 1975 the Shell laboratory moved to Amsterdam; the statue went with it. When the building for which the statue stood was demolished, a committee ensured that the statue returned to Delft. Since 2007 it has stood in an appropriate place: next to the Water Tower, which was in use for the supply of drinking water until 1996.

Henk Tieman studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. From 1938 to 1982 he worked as a monumental artist in the Building Earthworks department of the Royal Delft Pottery Factory De Porceleyne Fles. After World War II, this department grew rapidly and hired designers of its own. Tieman designed and produced ceramics for numerous buildings in the Netherlands, as well as, for example, cloisonné tiles. For the Delft Public Library he made the colorful glass artwork ‘with the flying books’ in thirteen panels. When the library moved in 2007, the work was given a home in the TU Delft Library. Tieman died in January 2001 at the age of 79 in Rotterdam.

Adrien Huet (1836-1899) was professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic School, nowadays the TU Delft. As a student he was exceptional: within two years of starting his studies he was already a civil engineer. Former students and friends of Huet decided that to honor his memory, this bench with medallion portrait of Huet should be made. Arend Odé made the portrait, Adolf le Comte was responsible for the design of the bench.

On the Kalverbos, bordered by bushes, are four nineteenth-century graves and crypts. They are the last remnants of the municipal cemetery. It was established in 1829, when burials in churches were prohibited. Burials took place there until 1874 and then, due to lack of space, a new cemetery, Jaffa, was established on the other side of the city.
The most famous grave belongs to Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, who died in 1845. The other graves still in existence are those of the Van Hangest Baron d’Yvoy family (1836), of the Maas Geesteranus family (1847), and the C.A. de Neve grave from 1866.
Naundorff’s grave consists of a horizontal hardstone tombstone inscribed ‘Charles-Louis duc de Normandy’ and an iron fence standing on profiled hardstone plinths with gold-colored French lilies on the fluted cast-iron corner balusters. The tombstone and railings date from 1904 and in that year replaced the original grave components which had fallen into disrepair.

Attached to the grave is a mystery that to this day, despite several investigations, remains unsolved. Karl Wilhelm Naundorff was a bit of everything: watchmaker, inventor, preacher. He also claimed to be the French heir to the throne, Louis XVII. The moment Karl takes the French family to court for not recognizing his identity, they get fed up with him and send him to England. There he designs a powerful bomb, which explodes in his home. He suffers severe burns, runs out of money as a result, and ends up in prison. King Willem II hears about the bomb inventor and invites him to come and live in the Netherlands. The king offers him a studio in Delft, where he can do justice to his inventions: Oude Delft 48. Less than a year later he is found dead here under dubious circumstances. He was probably poisoned. Karl was then buried as if he were indeed the heir to the throne of France. His family also makes a case for this because the money and fame are obviously convenient. However, one piece of evidence after another shows that the story is not true. In 1998 this is officially confirmed by researchers from the University of Leuven. Using DNA tests, they establish after 150 years that it was Karl Wilhelm Naundorff who was an imposter.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the reign of Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962) Henk Etienne made this sculpture. The portrait of Wilhelmina stands on a column, with underneath the motto of the house of Orange-Nassau: ‘Je Maintiendrai’, French for ‘I will maintain’. At the bottom of the column are the coats of arms of the Netherlands and Delft on either side.
Sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne was born in Delft in 1895, studied at the Technical College and worked most of his life in the city of Delft. He also made the stone sculpture ‘Woman with flame’. It stands in a niche of the Saint Hippolytus Chapel on the corner of Nieuwstraat/Oude Delft (see number 5).

Before creating this sculpture group, Delft sculptor Cor Dam experimented with the combination of landscape and plastic within a number of photomontages. In this work he was able to use the inspiration he had gained during that research. The sculpture consists of four separate elements, which together represent an artificial landscape. The artwork shows that Dam was looking for a certain tension in the form, which makes it seem as if it can change at any moment.

Cor Dam studied at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague and TU Delft. He worked from 1950 to 1965 as a designer at the Royal Delft Pottery Factory (De Porceleyne Fles), then until 1980 at the Ceramic Ateliers Structure 68 in The Hague and from 1988 as a teacher of Free Modeling at the VAK in Delft.
In his youth Cor was already modeling, drawing and gluing in kindergarten. In fact, he has always continued to do so. Of all his interests, drawing, painting and modeling eventually won out. Cor Dam greatly admired the work of Henri Moore (1898-1986), but was also inspired by the sculptures of Constantin Brâncuşi (1876-1957), Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) and Hans Arp (1887-1966). Both Cor’s sculptures and paintings have much in common. They are characterized by geometric motifs, of which the triangle is the most important.

To commemorate World War II, Delft sculptor, painter and mosaic artist Gradus van Eden created this bronze monument. The female figure carries a torch of freedom in her right hand and raises her left hand in comfort. The statue was largely paid for with proceeds from a door-to-door collection and was unveiled on May 4, 1950. Since then the resistance monument has been the permanent location for the annual Remembrance of the Dead.
Gradus van Eden was a student of Bon Ingen-Housz and Albert Termote at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. He became a member of the Kunstkring Delft and the Pulchri Studio, and exhibited several times. Van Eden painted and drew, making watercolors and pastels. As a sculptor, he created stone reliefs and bronze sculptures, among other things. For the Dutch pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 he made polychromed sculptures. Van Eden designed the new logo for the PTT in 1950, which was used as an emblem on uniforms until 1957. Later he was commissioned by the PTT to make sculptures for new telephone exchanges in Appingedam (1956) and Rijswijk (1957).
In addition to his work as an artist, Van Eden taught at the school of arts and crafts in Delft. He lived and worked in Delft until he moved to Lunteren around 1980.

Above the entrance to the school building of the Delftsche Schoolvereeniging at Koningsplein 81 are two ceramic reliefs depicting an orphan boy and orphan girl. These children were modelled on the orphans Jan Kemp and Mina Osendarp. The reliefs were made by the Porceleyne Fles. The building was built in 1909-10 as a reformed orphanage. This was necessary because the orphans could no longer be housed in the old convent building on Oude Delft. The building was commissioned by the board of the ‘Weeshuis der Gereformeerden binnen Delft’ and designed by architect A. van der Lee, who built it in a typical early twentieth-century Transitional style. In 1923 the orphanage also acquired the function of school when architect E. Elout rebuilt part of the building and then rented it to the Delft School Association, founded a year earlier. Arend Willem Maurits Odé was professor of modeling and sculpture at the Technical College in Delft from 1905 to 1935.

On a blind wall in the Anna Boogerd is this multicolored mosaic of an eye. It is a creation of the American-Dutch (Delft) artist Nan Deardorff-McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics. Together with residents, she made the artwork after it was commissioned by Vestia. Since her arrival in Delft in 2008, Nan Deardorff-McClain has been actively involved in urban beautification. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic stones and placed in the flagpole of her house at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).

On a blind wall in the Geerboogerd is this multicolored mosaic of an eye. It is a creation of the American-Dutch (Delft) artist Nan Deardorff-McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics. Together with residents, she made the artwork after it was commissioned by Vestia,
Nan Deardorff-McClain has been actively involved in city beautification since her arrival in Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic stones and placed in the flagpole of her house at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).

On the Nieuwe Plantage stands this steel sculpture, made by the Delft sculptor Hans la Hey. It is part of a series of four sculptures entitled ‘Four directions of the wind’. Hans la Hey came to this creation in a special way. He heard the story that William of Orange had not been murdered by Balthasar Gerards on 10 July 1584 but had actually died a natural death. The 27-year-old Frenchman, born in Vuillafans, was therefore wrongly executed after four days of gruesome torture. This was done by quartering with draft horses and the various limbs were then ‘exhibited’ on the gates of Delft.
Inspired by this story, La Hey designed four sculptures as a ‘tribute’ to Gerards; they are placed so that the Market is the centerpiece. The sculptures represent the four dimensions of space, namely length, width, height and depth. The other works of art are in the Schoolstraat (number 12) and near the Oostpoort (number 57). The sculpture that stood on the Zuidwal has disappeared. Hans la Hey studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as a visual artist.

At the Oostplantsoen 94 stands the former university building of the Department of Road and Hydraulic Engineering of the Technical College, built between 1918 and 1923 to a design by architect G. van Drecht. From 1976 to 1997 the building was part of the Central Library of the TU Delft and the Central Photographic Service, for which the Department of Road and Hydraulic Engineering was converted by the Government Buildings Agency in 1976. It now houses apartments. Sculptor, furniture designer and graphic artist H.A. van den Einde designed the sculpted entrance. On the columns are four stone relief figures, which act as caryatids for the heavily carved frame above them.

Hendrik Albertus van den Eijnde initially worked as a framer and received drawing lessons from the sculptor Franciscus Leonardus Stracké (1849-1919) at whose studio he worked for several years. He flourished in practice and through free study. Van den Eijnde started his own studio in 1917 and from 1917 to 1923 was a building sculptor with the Government Buildings Agency. From 1919 to 1925 he was editor of art magazine Wendingen. Van den Eijnde lived and worked his entire life in Haarlem. He became especially known as a sculptor of monuments and facade decorations on residential and commercial buildings.

This is an image of Elisabeth Pauw. She was born in 1639 and came from a wealthy family. Her parents were Jacob Adriaensz. Pauw, the then mayor of Delft, and Agatha Pietersdr. Van Goerée. She was a (great) niece of the Amsterdam mayor Reinier Pauw and of country lawyer Adriaan Pauw. She was widowed twice, first by Johan van der Dussen and then by his cousin Dirck van der Dussen. Both were also mayors of Delft. Elisabeth died as a childless widow on 31 May 1706 at the age of 66. Her remains were interred in the family tomb in the Oude Kerk on 3 June. On 16 April 1689 Elisabeth Pauw made a will specifying that her estate was to be used to build a courtyard for ‘poor needy persons or families’. It was to consist of eight separate houses, each with a garden. Executors Adriaan van Groenewegen and Paulus Durven purchased land in an open area between the Paardenmarkt and Verwersdijk, which was largely in use as a garden. Elisabeth had set aside 16,000 guilders for this project. Eight cottages were indeed built, on either side of a large courtyard. It was accessible from the Paardenmarkt, but also from the Verwersdijk through an alley called Aschput, which still exists. Already a year later the first residents could move into the eight houses of this courtyard. For many years, this courtyard was populated by less wealthy single women and elderly couples. However, after the Second World War the houses were found to be very dilapidated and uninhabitable. The courtyard was therefore substantially restored after the war. Today the Hofje van Pauw is owned and managed by the housing corporation Vestia. In 2007-2008 the inner garden of the Hofje van Pauw was redesigned. At its completion this (now weathered) portrait of the foundress was placed.

At Van der Mastenstraat 32 lies the Court of Grace (Hofje van Gratie), one of the four remaining courtyards of Delft. There used to be seven! Three gable stones adorn the entrance: the Sasbout crest, the Groot, Graswinckel and Overschie crests, and the Graswinckel-Van der Dussen and Van Swieten-Van der Wiel crests. The Court of Grace was a courtyard for single women and was founded in 1575 by the Delft mayor Pieter Pietersz Sasbout on the Korte Geer. In 1660, it had to make way for an expansion of the Armamentarium, the arms depot. It was rebuilt in a new form on the Van der Mastenstraat. There was room for seven houses after the explosion of the Kruithuis of Holland in 1654, one more than the original courtyard had. The entrance is on the street. At the rear of the houses is a closed gallery with a large garden where all the houses end. In 1839 the facade was plastered and the doors and windows were replaced. Of the original appearance, only the old gable stones and chimneys remained visible at that time. In 1967-1968 the facade was restored to its original form by architect E.A. Canneman, following the example of an old facade drawing.

Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.

Commissioned by the owner of Voorstraat 62, Delft artist Tijn Noordenbos painted the plinth of the front facade. “The owner loves the work of Charley Toorop and he is an amateur photographer. That’s how the artwork came about,” says Noordenbos.

Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.

In front of Hotel De Plataan (ie The Plane Tree) is a multicolored mosaic wall depicting the Doelenplein with a goal, plane trees and birds. At the bottom of the narrow section is a mouse, reading a newspaper at a table and holding a mug. The striking artwork was created by American-Dutch (Delft) mosaic artist Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics. Since her arrival in Delft, in 2008, she has been actively involved in city beautification. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic tiles and stuck into the flagpole of her home at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have emerged from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).

This vase-lamp refers to the historical relationship between Chinese porcelain and Delft blue. Sister city Jingdezhen is the birthplace of Chinese porcelain and still the most important porcelain city in the world. The Delft blue is derived from Chinese porcelain. The municipality of Delft purchased this work of art by the renowned Chinese artist Wan Liya from The Hague Sculpture.
In January 2019 a van accidentally drove backwards, causing irreparable damage to the artwork. The gigantic ‘vase lamp’ had to be removed. In China a new one was constructed. Since april 2021 the lamp is shining again at the Doelenplein.

Wan Liya was born in Qingdao in Shandong Province, China. He lives and works in Beijing, Jingdezhen and Qingdao. Wan Liya is particularly interested in the materials of ceramics and porcelain. ‘The National Treasure’ (2011) is based on a true story. In 2002, a rare ancient Chinese vase from the Yongzheng period (1723-1735) sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong for US$5.3 million. This vase was owned by the president of the Council of American Ambassadors, who in turn had inherited it from his mother. The vase had been in the family’s possession for decades, but they did not know its great historical value and had simply used it as a lamp base. This is not the only case of an old vase being transformed into a utilitarian object: other vases serve as umbrella stands, for example. Wan Liya is fascinated by these kinds of cultural misconceptions or reinterpretations.

The new building of arthouse Filmhuis Lumen (opened on February 1, 1996) gave rise to the installation of two new works of art. In addition to ‘The Steel House’ by Frans de Wit (see number 34), this ‘Film Bearer’ by Marianne Neve also became part of the arthouse. The bluestone sculpture shows a sturdy lady, viewed from behind, carrying rolls of film, even on her head. The sculpture is integrated into the entrance of the arthouse. Artist Marianne Neve studied at the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) and the State Academy of Fine Arts (Amsterdam). Since 1988 she has been working as an independent sculptor in Delft.

On the Pluympot is a window that was once made for a ladies’ fashion store on the Verwersdijk. Later on, the Greek restaurant Delphi’s was located there. The window was boarded up as it was no longer needed, especially since a business space was built behind it. This boarded up surface was, partly due to graffiti, a very disturbing element in the cityscape near Filmhuis Lumen and hotel De Plataan. On April 10, 2010, as part of Levende Etalagedag (Living Display Day), this boarded-up window also came to life. On that day a large mosaic of blue, white and blue and white ceramic tiles and especially shards of them, combined with pieces of mirror glass, was installed upon the panelling. The main scene consists of a bicycle and a tree. Neighborhood resident and artist Barbara van Gelder was the initiator and coordinator of this plan. Artists Nan Deardorff-McClain and Janet Veenendaal carried out the project in collaboration with local residents and visitors. The materials were sponsored by Hotel De Plataan, community center 3Ackers, Filmhuis Lumen and restaurant Delphi’s. The application of the mosaic not only transformed a boarded-up shop window into a cheerful element in the street, but actually brightened up the surrounding area as well. The Delft Blue mosaic tableau won the Le Comte prize of the historical association Delfia Batavorum in 2010.

American-Dutch (Delft) mosaic artist Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft, in 2008. Several of her projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize). Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (number 42).

The new building of the Lumen arthouse (opened on February 1, 1996) was accompanied by the arrival of new works of art. In addition to the ‘Film Bearer’ by Marianne Neve (see number 32), ‘The Steel House’ by Frans de Wit was built. This work is attached to the facade of the film house like the steel wall covering of a film box. ‘The film begins’, is written on it.

Franciscus Theodorus Alexandros (Frans) de Wit was a sculptor and landscape artist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague from 1960 to 1965 and was part of the so-called Hague School. Frans de Wit was one of the best Dutch sculptors of his generation, along with Carel Visser, David van de Kop, Cornelius Rogge and Lon Pennock. He built up an impressive oeuvre, in which commissions for sculptures in public spaces played a major role.

In the renewal of the Doelentuin in 1994, the municipality wanted to realize a creative enclosure. Visual artists were asked to make a design in which unity in the environment and transparency play an important role. The municipality chose AnneMarie van Splunter’s design, which with its rhythm of grids evokes the idea of an avenue with trees or columns. When there is sunlight, a special shadow pattern appears on the sidewalk.
Visual artist AnneMarie van Splunter lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam and the Art Academy in Glasgow.

From 2006 until 2018, citizens of Delft could go to the ATM on the Choorstraat 5 all hours of the day and withdraw money. However, because of security reasons, this ATM was removed on February 15th 2018 and a blank wall remained. With the building owner’s permission, Delft artist Tijn Noordenbos brightened up the place with his painting Pinnen (Withdrawing). Across the street, he also painted the shutters for the entrance of office bookstore A.J. Prins (Choorstraat 4). This painting can only be admired after closing time.

Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.

In the Papenstraat the Golden Age comes to life. Since March 2020, a blind wall in this narrow street has housed the ‘Ceramic Map of Delft’, a unique 3D ‘street-art’ project of no less than 15m2 of ceramics and mosaics. The wall in question was always gray, with some illegal graffiti here and there. Artists Nan Deardorff-McClain and Colja de Roo changed it up, with the help of some 500 volunteers. The source of inspiration was the so-called Kaert Figuratief, a city map plus prints from 1678. This shows Delft in a period of great prosperity, when ships from the Delft VOC (Dutch East India Company) chamber sailed to the East Indies, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek made his scientific discoveries and Delft Blue was conquering the world. The creation of the artwork was a lengthy process of ceramic making and mosaic laying. There are stories, symbols and clues to be discovered on each small piece of the 15m2 map. The Ceramic Map is nominated for the Le Comte Prize 2020 of historical association Delfia Batavorum.

Serge Kortenbroek is a Delft-based artist who works under the alias of Serge KB. He draws and paints surreal creatures, animals, cyborgs and androids. On various surfaces – canvas and paper, but also walls and found objects – he creates stark scenes with a twist. Experimenting with different materials and subjects, Serge’s style is constantly evolving. Often inspired by nature and its strange and beautiful creatures, his works are regularly pimped with analogue elements.

His interest in abandonment and decay is reflected in his work with pieces painted on old rusty metal or damaged wooden boards, often found in abandoned and forgotten buildings.

Serge created the painting on this door in the Vlouw. The large work shows hands holding a number of animals. Animals play an important role in Serge’s daily life and they are a good source of inspiration for him. In his work, he tries to depict animals that are not often portrayed in art. For example, featured on this artwork are (from left to right) a monkey, hare, walrus and a pig. Above them several more insects hover as well as another hare and whale. The hands holding the animals symbolize the hands of Serge himself and they basically present the animals to the viewer.

The seven doors and panels of the Halsteeg, as well as an electricity house, feature words made up of self-designed letters. Artist Job Wouters was commissioned by design firm Zoetmulder to give the alley a makeover; an initiative of exhibition space 38CC, the municipality of Delft and neighbors.
Job Wouters chose text to refer to the Meinema printing house that sat in the 38CC building for decades. Inspired by archival texts about the alley’s users in the past, Wouters has written Middle Dutch taunts in the alley. You can, for instance, read the word “Pompeye,”, the name of William of Orange’s dog. There’s a good chance that it walked around there, considering the Halsteeg was close to the former house of its owner, William of Orange.
The word ‘Avondspronck’ can also be read, which refers to dancing in the streets late at night. The evocative words are hand painted in beautiful letters in hard blue, bright red and jet black; colors used by printers. And so past and present, craft and graffiti, art and design flow together. The neglected Halsteeg, also called the piss alley by the people of Delft, has been given a new allure.
Job Wouters aka Letman (www.letman.com) lives and works in Amsterdam. An extreme letter designer with an international reputation, Wouters is known for his murals at the Bijenkorf store in Amsterdam and at shows by fashion designer Dries van Noten. Wouters makes monumental murals in which text is not just text, but also functions as image. By manually painting words, he develops new fonts and this way his work is situated between art, typography and design.

In 2013, at the request of the municipality of Delft, the Amsterdam sculptor/street artist Hugo Kaagman dressed a facade in the Bonte Ossteeg with a large Delft blue mural. The facade is the western side wall of the Markt 20/22 building, a national monument. On the first floor there is a café. The artwork consists of a white painted surface on a plastered layer, with various decorations in blue paint. In addition to typical Delft scenes, such as Johannes Vermeer and Hugo de Groot, the wall also features a few funny images, such as scantily clad women, Donald Duck’s lamp and a nose-picker with a punk haircut.

Opposite the Delft blue mural in the Bonte Ossteeg is a transformer box painted in blue and white, topped with ‘The Colourful Ox’. The striking artwork is by Amsterdam sculptor/street artist Hugo Kaagman.

Hugo Grotius, better known as Hugo de Groot (1583-1645), is one of the most famous figures in Dutch history and is considered one of the greatest jurists ever. With famous works such as ‘De jure belli ac pacis’ and ‘Mare Liberum’ he laid the foundation for the current Western legal system. He started studying at the age of eleven, was already a lawyer at sixteen, and later became a diplomat and a historian, among other things. Eventually he became Pensionary of Rotterdam – the most important advisor to the city government. After 1610 a religious conflict arose between the Remonstrants and the Counter-Remonstrants. Hugo de Groot chose the side of the Remonstrants, so Stadholder Prince Maurice sentenced him to life imprisonment, first in The Hague and later at Slot Loevestein. There he miraculously managed to escape by hiding in a book chest. Hugo de Groot died in 1645 as an outlaw from the Republic in Rostock, northern Germany. After his death, the embalmed body was brought to Holland, where he was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft under great public interest. The vault and tomb are right next to those of his archenemy Prince Maurice.

The bronze statue depicts De Groot in his role as a jurist. He wears a gown and holds a law book in his hand. The statue originally stood in the middle of the Markt, but for practical reasons, such as the Taptoe (a performance of music or display of armed forces), it was placed next to the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk in 1954. Many people in Delft felt that this was not the best place for him; therefore this great thinker was moved back to the middle in 1977. During the redesign of the Market Square in 2004, ‘Hugo de Groot’ was thoroughly restored and placed closer to the Nieuwe Kerk.

Franciscus Leonardus Stracké (1849-1919) was a Dutch sculptor, son of Jean Theodore Stracké. He came from a family of artists originally from Germany. His grandfather was the German painter and sculptor Ignatius Johannes Stracké. Gottfried Stracké and Frans Stracké, both sculptors, were his uncles. F.L. Stracké’s best known work is the statue of Hugo de Groot. In addition, in 1889 he made a marble bust of Dr. Schaepman for the Rijksmuseum. The sculptor is considered the teacher of Hendrik Albert van den Eijnde (1869-1939), who became his assistant in 1891. Stracké was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903).

For years there was a bare electricity house on the Bijbelbrug, located between the Markt and the Jacob Gerritstraat. On the initiative of Rewriters010 and the municipality of Delft, artist Nina Valkhoff gave this electricity house some color in 2020. Now, a small colorful bird can be seen, whose colors completely fit Delft and its historic buildings.
Nina Valkhoff is an illustrator and muralist from Rotterdam. Having worked as a professional muralist for over 20 years, her works can be found in Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico, France and Ireland. Nina studied illustration at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam and her work can be seen worldwide on the streets but also in apartment buildings, restaurants, offices and stores.

Creating large murals is her passion: She loves covering her walls with plants and animals, especially endangered species to make people aware of their existence, to show their beauty but also to point out our selective love for the cute or more ordinary animals. Besides creating murals, Nina likes to paint animals on vintage leather bags. This way, she not only reuses the bags by giving them a new life, she also turns them into a unique piece of art.

In the spirit of ‘Delft is goud, jij bent goud’ (Delft is gold, you are gold), the narrow section of Jozefstraat next to the Maria van Jesse Church has been transformed into a golden runner. The gilded, personalized paving stones (each stone has four initials) symbolize the unique bonds between people, inside as well as outside Delft. Supported by the municipality, the project Delft is goud, jij bent goud took place as part of the Golden Age Year in Delft. The clinker bricks were given as gifts by Delft residents and non-residents, as a token of appreciation for someone they consider ‘gold’. In the summer of 2021, the last golden bricks were placed in the Jozefstraat, bringing the final counter to over 2,000 clinker bricks.

To embellish the turning loop for buses on Oude Langendijk, the municipality commissioned Marcel Smink with a work of art. The location had to remain surveyable and the object was not allowed to give rise to residence. The blue heart is symbolically linked to Delft in various ways. The blue color stands for the famous Delft blue, the technical construction refers to the Technical University and the heart to the city center in which the sculpture is located. At night the sculpture is lit from within, a reference to the stained glass of the churches in Delft. The plastic form of the heart connects to that of the traffic circle.

Sculptor, environmental artist and designer Marcelius Jacobus Franciscus (Marcel) Smink was born in Heumen on July 11, 1967. He studied at the Academy of Visual Arts (Arnhem) and lives and works in Arnhem since 1994.

The famous painter Johannes Vermeer lived in Delft from his birth in 1632 until his death in 1675. This made it remarkable that there was not a single ‘Vermeer’ present in the city. The Vermeer Foundation decided to do something about it. It commissioned Wim T. Schippers, an artist also known for creating various TV characters, to create a sculpture of ‘The Milkmaid’ to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of Vermeer’s death. Schippers based the sculpture on Vermeer’s painting of the same name, which hangs in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. The sculpture now stands next to the Nieuwe Kerk and before that on the Binnenwatersloot, where the Waterslootse Poort used to give access to the city. Previously it stood on the corner of Phoenixstraat/Schoolstraat and on Sint Olofsstraat (The Milk Boys).

The Beestenmarkt was used as a cattle market from the sixteenth century until 1972. The ‘Delft Cow’ (although some call it a bull) is a reminder of this time. Ceramicist, sculptor and designer Rob Brandt made the artwork in 1987 during the project ‘Hedendaags Delfts Blauw’ and called it ‘Statue for Cobra’. The municipality of Delft purchased the statue a few years later and gave it a place on the Beestenmarkt, which was renovated in 1993. Painted in red, blue and yellow, the cow stands on inverted silver thimbles on a tall column that is white with black spots. This refers to the colors of the typical Dutch cow.

Rob Brandt attended the St. Joost Academy in Breda. After graduating in 1973, his big break came in 1975 with the ceramic Goods Deukbeker. Although his best-known work, Brandt has designed even more utensils. He also focuses on creating statues and works of art. Brandt’s work is included in the collection of several museums, including Rotterdam’s Boijmans van Beuningen and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.

In the early 1990s, the Brabantse Turfmarkt/Burgwal intersection and the area around it were given a makeover. The municipality wanted to place a sculpture at the spacious intersection that would be interesting from both a short and long distance, evoke associations and remain fascinating. This sculpture by the Delft sculptor and painter Hans Kuyper fits into that vision. If you look closely, you will see that it consists of a playful composition of four elements: a bird, a tree, a boat and water. Kuyper was inspired by its location. Water, for example, symbolizes the former canal in this area, where peat boats moored. This work is about the interplay between the various ‘building blocks’, which seem to be placed together at random.

Hans Kuyper was born in Voorburg. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (sculpture and modeling) and at the Art Academy San Carlos in Mexico City (painting/graphics). Kuyper has placed several sculptures in public spaces, including in Purmerend, Leidschendam and Delft. He also makes spatial still lifes, portraits and smaller full-length figures. He brings together sculpture and painting in his work. The sculpture is modelled, whether or not painted or patinated and executed in bronze or ceramics. His work is about meeting, surviving, recognizing and poetry. Hans Kuyper was nominated for the Dutch portrait prize in 2019. He has his studio at the Rietveld.

The Kromstraat is a narrow alley between the Jacob Gerritstraat and the Koornmarkt. In the fourteenth century the name was Tunaerssteghe (already mentioned in 1349). In a purchase letter from 1520 the alley was called Cromstraat- or Tuinaert-steegh, this is the oldest known mention of the remarkable name Kromstraatsteeg. Although replaced by Kromstraatsteeg in the sixteenth century, the alley was still called Tuindersteeg in the Delftsche Courant of 31 January 1851. ‘Krom’ can be explained by the curve in the alley and ‘straatsteeg’ possibly because the alley was paved at a time when most alleys were unpaved (compare ‘straatweg’). In 1964, the Delft city council chose to name the alley Kromstraat.
The cheerful mural of the Delft Water Lilies can be found on the side wall of the corner building that formerly housed the Van der Reijken photography store (Koornmarkt 72). The South African artist Shaun Herron created this work of art around 2005, based on the original by the French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), the important forerunner of impressionism.

A sundial can indicate the time by means of the sun. For a long time in history, the sundial was the only means for the “common citizen” to find out what time it was and it wasn’t until around 1950 that everyone could afford an accurate clock. On the occasion of the sixth lustrum of the Delft Student Association Sint Jansbrug in 1977, the association offered this sundial to the city. The society was in dire straits at the time; the sundial was a symbol of eternal survival.

Made by British artist Edward Barker from Newton Flotman in Norfolk, the sculpture is a copy of the bronze artwork ‘Isthmus Landscape’. ‘Isthmus’ means land bridge or narrowing. Edward Barker was a member of The Norwich Twenty Group and lived from 1918 to 1984.

In 2015, parking garage Zuidpoort celebrated its tenth anniversary. For this anniversary, the Amsterdam artist Hugo Kaagman was asked to create a mural in the corridor of the parking garage and he transformed the long wall into a large Delft Blue tile composition featuring typical Delft scenes and motifs.
There are all kinds of things to see, such as windmill Molen de Roos, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Oostpoort, Van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope, references to the VOC, artist Banksy (Parking), the Delft coat of arms, the New Church, Hugo de Groot, the murder of William of Orange, Melkmeisje, tulips, Escher, cartoon characters and even a fisherman in a little boat.
In 2016 Hugo Kaagman returned with a new mural on the second floor of the parking garage. This time choosing the theme Frog Land; a collage of patterns with a story. Frogs as an angle, obsession, concept… See number 45!

Next to the Oostpoort (ie East Gate) stands this steel sculpture, made by the Delft sculptor Hans la Hey. It is part of a series of four sculptures entitled ‘Four directions of the wind’. Hans la Hey came to this creation in a special way. He heard the story that William of Orange had not been murdered by Balthasar Gerards on 10 July 1584 but had actually died a natural death. The 27-year-old Frenchman, born in Vuillafans, was therefore wrongly executed after four days of gruesome torture. This was done by quartering with draft horses and the various limbs were then ‘exhibited’ on the gates of Delft.
Inspired by this story, La Hey designed four sculptures as a ‘tribute’ to Gerards; they are placed so that the Market is the centerpiece. The sculptures represent the four dimensions of space, namely length, width, height and depth. The other works of art are on Schoolstraat (number 12) and on Nieuwe Plantage (number 32). The sculpture that stood on the Zuidwal has disappeared. Hans la Hey was educated at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as an artist.

In a niche above the entrance to the Oostpoort is this stone sculpture of a man with a lantern, lance and dog. It is a creation of the Delft sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne. He was born in Delft in 1895, studied at the Technical College and worked most of his life in the city. There are several artworks by Etienne in Delft, including ‘Woman with Flame’ (1930) on Oude Delft (see number 5) and ‘Queen Wilhelmina’ (1938) near Koningsplein (see number 26).

Inspired by the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a blank wall at the foot of the Sebastiaansbrug has been transformed into a mosaic artwork. Hank was here gets its name from the huge graffiti tag (Hank) that once covered much of this highly visible wall along the Sebastiaansbrug.
More than 200 participants were involved in creating the ceramic mosaic ‘Kandinsky circles’ during five different workshops. Among these enthusiastic volunteers were also students from the nearby Oostpoort School. The black and white Copacabana-style waves are a tribute to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Funding for the project came from Fonds 1818 and a private donation.

Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic stones and stuck into the flagpole of her house at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year and several of her projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).

Saint Sebastian, after whom Saint Sebastian Bridge (Sint Sebastiaansbrug) is named, was an officer in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletanus in about 300 AD. He was a Christian and was therefore sentenced to death and shot through with arrows, as he is also depicted. This did not kill him, however. After he was healed, he went to the emperor to point out his crimes after which he was still killed. The municipality purchased the ‘Sebastian’ statue in 1963 to give it a place near the Sint Sebastiaansbrug. Due to its small size (1 meter 34), ‘Sebastian’ was placed on a high pedestal in 1966. Due to renovation and restructuring of the Zuidpoort area it was removed again. Since 2007 the sculpture has been on a lower pedestal at the Zuidwal.

Gerhard Marcks (18 February 1889-13 November 1981) was a famous German sculptor , but he is also known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics. Marcks died in 1981 in Burgbrohl, Eifel. Ten years earlier, as a tribute, the Gerhard Marcks Haus was established in Bremen. This museum offers a permanent exhibition of his work. The collection consists of 12,000 of his sketches and preparatory drawings, 900 prints and all of his sculptures (about 350).

On the Asvest (numbers 1, 2 and 3), three murals can be admired with the themes of Delft and dance, in color and black and white. Unfortunately, the talented street art artists are not known.

At the playground on the Ham, opposite the Ham Bridge, is this twelve meter long, multicolored mosaic wall . The wall shows a bridge with a mother with children and bicycles and under the bridge there’s a swan. On the left is a forest with flowers and on the right cows in the meadow.
The mosaic is a creation of the American-Dutch (Delft) artist Nan Deardorff-McClain after a design by Claudia Latorre. Volunteers from the Delft MaMa Foundation helped. The wall won the audience award of the Le Comte Prize 2017 of historical association Delfia Batavorum.

Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic tiles and put up in the flagpole of her house at the Pluympot (see number 33). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).

At Hooikade 13, near the railway station, is Bacinol 2, the creative breeding ground for artists, designers, architects and web designers in Delft. Originally the headquarters of the Koninklijke Fabriek F.W. Braat, this building was especially known for its steel window frames.

Bacinol 2 was designed by architect Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk, in the style of the New Building (a movement in modern architecture that values functionality over ornamentation). It consists of reinforced concrete, yellow bricks and – of course – steel windows made by Braat himself. This trademark of the company was something the architect clearly wanted to mirror. Not even a single piece of wood was used in the building!

In the stairwell is a steel elevator with a rare (and now forbidden) open casing. The real eye-catcher, however, is the gigantic full-height stained glass window designed by Hungarian artist Vilmos Huszár (1884-1960). The most unknown member of the art movement De Stijl, Huszár was, in fact, one of the founders and worked closely with Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg. Not long after its founding, though, the artist detached himself from De Stijl and went his own way.

The name Bacinol 2 suggests the existence of a Bacinol 1 and you’d be right! Unfortunately this building (which was part of Koninklijke Gist- en Spiritusfabriek) had to make way in 2009 for the railroad tunnel of the new Delft railway station. Together the buildings owe their name Bacinol to secret experiments conducted during the Second World War. Penicillin, which had just been invented, was tested in the building and to prevent the Germans from getting their hands on the medicine, the factory produced under the code name Bacinol.

Restaurant Huszár is located on the first floor and named after the artist of the stained glass work, is also worth a visit. Just like exhibition space De Salon, responsible for exhibiting contemporary artists. A nice touch is that the grandfather of this family business used to be a hussar (soldier on horseback). His mega-photo is incorporated into the glass wall in the café.
The building overlooks the Kolk, where Johannes Vermeer painted his Gezicht op Delft (View of Delft).

Near Bacinol 2 and the artwork Gezicht op Delft (View of Delft) is a cheerful electricity house. The Delft artist Joost Konings painted the Zuidkolk on it.
Joost Konings paints (mainly using oil paint) but also airbrushes. Working on commission, he does portraits as well as wall, furniture and ceiling paintings. Atelier Konings gives workshops and modules in painting and body painting to various institutions, companies, schools (ROC Amsterdam, training for all-round make-up artist) and individuals.
Joost Konings has been associated with Stichting Kunstdoelen Delft since 2004, whose name has changed to Stichting Beeldende Kunsten Delft, popularly known as Kadmium. He has his studio in Bacinol 2 on the Hooikade.

This magical vantage point inspired Johannes Vermeer to paint his world-famous Gezicht op Delft (View of Delft) in 1660/1661, which now hangs in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Despite all kinds of changes over the decades, you can still spot the towers of the Old and New Church here on the Hooikade.
Vermeer’s canvas actually shows very little of the city. Instead, there is mainly water and sky with beautiful light, reflections and shadows. According to Thomas Elshuis, Gezicht op Delft is therefore not a cityscape: it is all about light and water. Commissioned in the Vermeer Year of 1996, Elshuis marked this historic location with a work of art.
During Vermeer’s time, some technical discoveries concerning perception and light were made. For example, the English scholar Isaac Newton showed that white light when refracted breaks down into all the colors of the rainbow (the prism). Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vermeer’s fellow townsman, tinkered with lenses and built the first powerful microscope. It is therefore not inconceivable that such discoveries influenced Vermeer. After all, he also made use of the camera obscura (Latin for darkroom).
All of this, Elshuis brings together in his Panorama. Trained as an architect, he made the transition to the visual arts in the 1990s with a series of folly’s, meaning structures without function. But even then, photography had his attention. Panorama is a photographic work that zooms in on Vermeer’s clouds and the sand on the banks of the river Schie. Drops of water magnify the grains of sand, and at the bottom of the image the colors of the prism appear. Elshuis’s Panorama creates an intimate space while at the same time providing a broad view: that of the city itself but also of the technical innovations that have come to fruition in Delft in the past and present.