Monuments in Noord-Holland

R. Stenvert en C. Kolman (2006)

Gepubliceerd op 30-03-2018

The (Herv.) Grote of Laurentiuskerk in Weesp

betekenis & definitie

(Nieuwstraat 31) is a substantial three-aisled basilical church with a three-sided closed choir, a roof rider and a high tower. A presumably 13th century tuff stone church was rebuilt in brick in the 15th century - possibly from 1429 (consecration 1462) - as a single-nave cross church.

Of these, some wall work remains on the east side. At the end of the 15th century, the ship was raised and the side aisles added. At the beginning of the 16th century, the late Gothic choir arose. Against the south side of the church there is an 18th-century portal, a forem. house of the sexton (circa 1860) and - at the choir - an early-16th-century sacristy, now consistory and churchmaster's room. On the north side there is a late gothic entrance (15th century) with natural stone and a classicist portal with dome (1673). The church was further rebuilt in 1855, restored in 1913 (J.L. Plaat) and restored in 1969-'78.

The interior is covered by wooden barrel vaults with draw beams. The pillars in the ship have capitals with double leaf wreaths. In the choir the wall dams between the windows are provided with niches and the wall scales rest on sculpted consoles. During the restoration, ordination crosses were discovered and some late medieval paintings. Furthermore, eight-sided benches around the column basements have emerged when the floor is lowered. The inventory includes a late gothic choir fence (circa 1525), to which two text signs have been added after the Reformation (Ten Commandments and the Twelve Articles of Faith). Of the seventeenth-century benches in the choir, one is surmounted and provided with the late-Gothic crowning of the old pulpit (sold 1862). The church also contains gravestones and mourning boards (17th-18th century), a cabinet organ (circa 1800) and an organ (1823) built by J. Bätz. Access to the consistory is done in rich Louis XV style (1755); the attachment shows a pelican feeding her young. In the same style, the fireplaces in the consistory and the church master's room were executed.

The tower has five sections and is crowned by a constricted spire with lantern and pear-shaped crowning. Presumably in the 13th century - shortly after the construction of the tufa church - the three lower tower sections were constructed with lisenen and round arches in Romanesque style. The two upper sections are 15th-century and the current peak was probably established in the early 16th century. During the restoration in 1969-1978, the tower's top reverberations were reconstructed. In the tower are ring bells from Henrick Wegewaert (1614) and Pieter Hemony (1674) and a carillon of 38 bells, one of Jan Moer (1562), thirteen of Pieter Hemony (1671) and one of Claes Noorden and Jan Albert de Grave (1711). The clock has been cast by Geert van Wou (1506), the play is from 1676.

The "kosterij" (Kerkstraat 19) consists of two deep buildings which were combined behind a gable in the 18th century.