Description of the attraction
The New Church is one of the main attractions of the city of Delft. This is an old church, which was founded at the end of the XIV century, officially it bears the name of the Church of St. Ursula, and it is called New only because before it there was already one stone church of St. Bartholomew in the city, which began to be called Old.
A wooden church in honor of the Virgin Mary began to be built on the Market Square in 1351, after the beggar Simon had a vision of a beautiful golden church. After many years of persuasion, the city council finally agreed to this construction, which lasted almost three centuries. In the 15th century, the church already bears the name of St. Ursula. In terms of the church is a cross, this is the traditional form of Christian churches. In 1536, the tower was struck by lightning, the building was badly damaged by fire, and a hundred years later, in 1654, an explosion in the powder depots of the church caused significant damage again. In 1872, lightning strikes the tower's spire again. The tower is being rebuilt again, and today the tower of the New Church is the second highest after the tower of the Utrecht Cathedral, its height together with the spire is 109 meters.
The new church is famous for the fact that it houses the family tomb of the royal family. The first to be buried here was William I of Orange, nicknamed the Silent One. He was killed in Delft in 1584 and was buried here, in the New Church, because the traditional tomb of the princes of Orange in Breda was in the hands of the Spaniards. The last to be buried here were Queen Juliana and Prince Bernard, the grandparents of the current King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander.
