Doopsgezinde Kerk (Utrecht)

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Facade of the Doopsgezinde kerk

The Doopsgezinde Kerk (in German baptismal church ) is a Mennonite church in the Dutch city of Utrecht .

Building history

The church on the Oudegracht dates back to 1773. The De Witte Leeuw ( The White Lioness ) brewery previously stood in the same place, and the rear gables in particular were taken over into the new building. The facade was completely redesigned. The interior of the church is designed in the Louis-seize style with no cross or pictorial decorations. Like other Mennonite churches, the Doopsgezinde Kerk was designed as a simple sermon church with a central pulpit . By the Orgelbauerei Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Witte in the style of late Baroque Rococo designed organ was built in 1870. The organ used before 1870 dated back from an earlier Mennonite Church at Jufferstraat and is now in the Vredeskerk in Katwijk aan Zee . The congregation in Utrecht was the first Mennonite congregation in the Netherlands to use an organ in their church. In 1922 the church was expanded for community work.

The Doopsgezinde Kerk in Utrecht cannot be directly recognized as a church from the outside. Like many other churches of the Dutch Mennonites, Remonstrants and Catholics in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was designed as a hidden church (Dutch Schuilkerk ). In the Calvinist Netherlands, open worship of other denominations was still forbidden.

organ

The first organ was built in 1765; It was a single-manual instrument with 10  registers , which had been built by Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz . This organ was sold to Katwijk am See in 1869. Today's organ was built from 1869 to 1870 by the organ builder Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Witte . Over the years the instrument has been expanded and revised several times. Today it has 14 stops on two manual works and a pedal .

View of the organ
I Hoofdwerk C – f 3
Bourdon 16 ′
Prestant 8th'
Roerfluit 8th'
Octaaf 4 ′
Roerfluit 4 ′
Mixture II-IV
Trumpet (Bb, D) 8th' (N)
II Bovenwerk C – f 3
Holpijp 8th'
Gamba 8th'
Prestant 4 ′ (N)
Fluit 4 ′
Nasard 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Woudfluit 2 ′ (N)
Pedal C – d 1
Subbas 16 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
  • annotation
(N) = Register added later (1964)

local community

The Utrecht congregation is now part of the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit and has about 230 baptized congregation members.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Building description on the homepage of the baptismal congregation Utrecht ; Accessed April 21, 2010
  2. ↑ Information about the organ (Dutch)

Web links

Commons : Doopsgezinde Kerk (Utrecht)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 5 '13.8 "  N , 5 ° 7' 20.8"  E