Grote Kerk, Breda

The Annunciation of Maria Boodchap .
Maria Messenger would be the name in English.This beautiful wall painting from the 15 th Century was discovered in this church in the beginning od the 20th Century.
I was hidden underneath the white chalked wall and re discovered. After two unsuccesful attempts of restauration the painting was almost given up in the 80 's .
In 1995 action was taken to restore this painting ,it was not easy ,the humidity had done a number on the painting and it was starting to fall apart.
Action was taken and a cheesecloth was used to put over the painting and the painting was removed and put in a wooden box and shipped to Amsterdam for restauration.
After 2 1/2 years of restauration the painting was re installed in 1998.
This process of restauration can be seen including pictures in a website
http://www.generali.nl/grotekerk/

Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk - or as everybody calls it - Grote Kerk is the main church and the main sight of Breda. It's absolutely gorgeous, with its white colour and the fancy gothic tower! As we were hungry we didn't go inside (plus I don't pay for churches! Although this one had an exhibition inside so that's something else!!) but I liked the views from the outside. And lit up at night it looked very very nice as well!!

Church of Our Lady
The 15th century Church has a rich cultural past. It took 125 years to build it. Not only the outside architecture but also the monuments and murals inside the church make it the most important historical site in Breda.

1 more image

Giving a fee of 3 euros will allow you the entrance in the Grote Kerk. A magnificent museum with much to discover. High and stunning ceilings, beautiful paintings and some copy paintings of great dutch artists, statues of old duches of the area, an old gothic church instrument,a bible of 1663 and... a 500 years old mummy of a cat (!). The poor animal was mistakenly built in the church and its body never disappeared... The bad thing about this great monument is tha there are no english signs and for everything you need to ask the doorman. Fortunately if you say that you are a tourist, the doorman will give you a paper with the church's and breda's historical stages along with your ticket..

The Grote Kerk (or els the our lady's church) is located right in the middle of Brada's Centrum. This is of course Breda's centre, the most picturesque area of the town which captured by a circle river named Singel. The church i a magnificent monument and its of course the number one site of the town. It was built in the early 15th century and it is considered to be a great gothic monument.It is a nice place to start your knowing of Breda.

4 more images

The GROTE KERK (Great Church) is also called the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) . It was built in 1410 and is one of the finest examples of Brabantine Gothic style.The Tower is 97 metres high and one of the highest church towers in the Netherlands.
For a group of 10 or more adults, the cost is E 1.50 to enter and is well worth it.

Breda's Great Church, or Church of Our Lady, is the most beautiful church in Holland to my humble opinion.
It has been through a lot during the centuries but all the restaurations have succeeded in making the church the way it is now.
You can take a guided tour and be amazed by the beautifull organ or the graves of some of the Dutch Royal Family members.
The tower is 98 meters high and is allready to be seen from far away.
Right next to the church you will find the market and the old cityhall.
For people who love shopping after seeing a monument there are dozens of shopping streets in the very near surroundings....:-)
And have a beer or a delicious dinner at one of the many pubs and restaurants at the market and enjoy the view of The Great Church from there.

the church has two names: grote kerk (big church) used by the protestant and "onze lieve vrouwekerk"(our lady church) used by the catholic. They start to build the church in 1400, in 1300 a small church was at the same place.
The tower of this church collapsed during a storm. In 1468 they started to build the second tower which had taken 40 years. Shortly afterwards the steeple of the tower burned down again. For the design of the tower is 97 meters and 70 centimetres high, one of the highest church towers in the Netherlands, in earlier times ,a tower of a church had different functions, namely e.g. containing the carillon.
Except for containing bells, the tower of the church had also another function in earlier times. On top of the tower used to stay a watchman who overlooked the whole city. As soon as he located a fire, he immediately rang the bells to warn the inhabitants of Breda. This person also used to play the horn every hour, so people knew what time it was.
From all over Breda you can see the church tower.