'Between Word and Sacrament'

PEETERSLEUVEN – PARIS – WALPOLE, MA

PATTERNS AND PERSONS

A HISTORIOGRAPHY OF LITURGICAL STUDIES IN THE NETHERLANDS IN THE

TWENTIETH CENTURY

Louis van Tongeren, Marcel Barnard, Paul Post & Gerard Rouwhorst (eds.)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I – INTRODUCTION

GERARD ROUWHORST & LOUIS VAN TONGEREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Liturgical studies in the Netherlands. An introduction to its historiography

II – PATTERNS

LOUIS VAN TONGEREN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25From Liturgical Movement to liturgy on the move. The reform of the liturgy and the development of liturgical studies in the Roman Catholic Netherlands in the twentieth century

KLAAS-WILLEM DE JONG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69A century of the Liturgical Movement within the Dutch Protestant churches

ANTON VERNOOIJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101The Amsterdam Study Group for the Vernacular Liturgy

MARCEL BARNARD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Concentration and expansion. The Prof. dr G. van der Leeuw Foundation. Meeting Centre for Church and arts

PAUL POST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169A different story. The development of Roman Catholic church architecture in the Netherlands after ca. 1850 from a ritual-liturgical and ritual-material perspective

JUSTIN KROESEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Between word and sacrament. Protestant church architecture and furnishings in the Netherlands during the twentieth century

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VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS

III – PERSONS

MARCEL BARNARD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950) as a liturgical scholar

MARTIN HOONDERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Eliseus Bruning (1892-1958): A church musicologist

ANTON VERNOOIJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1981) and the renewal of church music

PETRA VERSNEL-MERGAERTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313Jan Prein (1901-1957): A pioneer of liturgical scholarship

SIBLE DE BLAAUW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339Frits van der Meer (1904-1994): The oldest school of worship

ELS ROSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371Moved by language. Christine Mohrmann (1903-1988) and the study of liturgical latin

PETRA VERSNEL-MERGAERTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393Cees Bouman (1911-1988): An avant la lettre liturgist in all aspects

KLAAS-WILLEM DE JONG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421Gerrit Lammens (1923-1985): A reformed-ecumenical liturgiologist

GERARD ROUWHORST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443Herman Wegman (1930-1996): A liturgical historian between tradition and modernity

IV – EPILOGUE

MARCEL BARNARD & PAUL POST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469Balance and perspective. Some critical observations regarding the historiography of the era of the Liturgical Movement in the Netherlands

Index of names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487Index of subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

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1 This article focuses on church buildings and furnishings in mainstream Dutch Protestantism during the twentieth century. Due to the similarity of the names in trans-lation, I have used ‘Netherlands Reformed Church’ for Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk and ‘Reformed Churches in the Netherlands’ for Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland. Both confessions merged into the ‘Protestant Church in the Netherlands’ (Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, PKN) in 2004.

BETWEEN WORD AND SACRAMENT:PROTESTANT CHURCH ARCHITECTURE AND

FURNISHINGS IN THE NETHERLANDS DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

JUSTIN E.A. KROESEN

During the twentieth century, Dutch Protestant churches and their fur-nishings underwent a process of change and development moving away from traditional designs and layouts towards more open-plan, pluralistic models.1 At first, the urge for renewal was mainly felt in architecture, which abandoned tradition with a series of new forms and styles. From the 1930s onwards, new liturgical insights propagated by the so-called Liturgical Movement deeply influenced church furnishings, both in newly built and historic churches. In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, along with the continuing influence of the Liturgical Movement, many changes followed the desires of the church community, who sought to play a more active, engaged role both in the liturgy and in its relations with the outside world. By the end of the century, a sharp decrease in church membership and church attendance left many church buildings financially burdensome or even redundant, demanding that new uses be found for these buildings.

1. Architectural renewal (1900-1940)

During and after the sixteenth-century Reformation, Dutch Protestants (who were mainly Calvinists) thoroughly ‘cleansed’ the churches of all that remained of the Catholic past. Altars and tabernacles were removed almost without a trace, and paintings were whitewashed. After the chancel

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216 JUSTIN E.A. KROESEN

2 See especially C.A. VAN SWIGCHEM, T. BROUWER & W. VAN OS: Een huis voor het woord. Het protestantse kerkinterieur in Nederland tot 1900 (Zeist / ’s-Gravenhage 1984).

3 On these developments in the province of Groningen, see J.E.A. KROESEN: ‘Ere-tempels voor de adel. De manifestatie van de Ommelander adel in het interieur van Groninger kerken (1500-1800)’, in Virtus. Jaarboek voor adelsgeschiedenis 14 (2007) 76-98.

had been profanised the church was in fact reduced to a preaching hall which comprised only the nave. Eternalised by painters such as Pieter Saenredam and Emanuel de Witte, the ‘classical’ church interior adopted by Dutch Calvinism evolved over the course of the seventeenth century into a design based on a centrally placed pulpit around which the com-munity could gather.2 The original soberness of the interior soon made way for richly carved pulpits, box pews and epitaphs. Those who formed the backbone of the thriving Dutch economy claimed a monumental presence in the church, and some even had their tombs erected in the chancel, on the very spot where the medieval main altar had once stood.3 As the existing medieval structures were usually sufficient to accommo-date the whole community, there was little need to build new Protestant churches. Furthermore, most of the churches that were erected by the Protestants followed surprisingly traditional designs. Even the famous Westerkerk of Amsterdam, designed by Hendrick de Keyser around 1630, harks back to age-old models, resembling a medieval basilica with two transepts and a bell tower, albeit – of course – with no chancel. Apart from traditionalist designs, some centrally-planned churches on polygonal or Greek cross-shaped ground plans also enjoyed a certain popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The low level of building activity by the Dutch Protestant community continued until the nineteenth century, when both an increase in the population and the emancipation of certain branches of Protestantism, such as the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in 1834/1889 and the Christian Reformed Churches in 1869, created a demand for new and/or larger church buildings.

As in profane architecture, church architects also tried to break away from traditional forms and spaces, such as those found in the neo-classical and neo-medieval styles. Once the delirious style of Art Nouveau began to decline after the first World War, architects began to propagate a new system of clearer proportions and less decorative surfaces. This austere turn in architecture, termed Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (‘New Objectivity’),


PROTESTANT CHURCH ARCHITECTURE AND FURNISHINGS 217

4 F. HOOIMEIJER & A. PRONKHORST: Hendrik Peter Berlage. Een bouwmeester in beeld (Alphen a/d Rijn 2002) 74-75.

5 J.J. FALIZE: ‘De kerkbouw voor en na 1900. Van neostijlen tot “berlagiaans”’, in R. STEENSMA & C.A. VAN SWIGCHEM: Honderdvijftig jaar Gereformeerde kerkbouw (Kampen 1986) 73.

6 J.J. FALIZE: ‘De kerkbouw tussen de wereldoorlogen. De Amsterdamse school’, in STEENSMA & VAN SWIGCHEM: Honderdvijftig jaar 75.

7 Sadly, this church burned down in 2003.

was inspired by American architects such as H. Hobson Richardson and L. Sullivan who were at the forefront of skyscraper design. One of the first architects to adopt the new principles in church architecture was H.P. Berlage, who designed the building of the First Church of Christ Scientist in The Hague, dating from 1927. In accordance with the ideas of this religious movement which sought to combine Christian thought with modern science, this massive brick building was bathed in light, in contrast to traditional Christianity which was considered to be dark and mystical.4 The church is centrally planned, with seating in concentric circles around the pulpit. The stylistic influence of Berlage, for whom the design of churches was only a minor concern, is present in the work of Reformed Church architects such as T. Kuipers and A. Nauta, who designed rather austere T-shaped churches with seating around a centrally placed high pulpit.5 This type of plan deliberately refers back to the seventeenth century, regarded as the Golden Age of Dutch Protestantism, when a church was mainly considered to be ‘a house for the Word’.

The austere tenor of New Objectivity was soon ousted by Expres-sionism, which found its way into Dutch architecture through the so-called Amsterdam School. This movement originated around 1915 and was to be of great importance for church architecture, especially within the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. The architects B.T. Boeyinga and E. Reitsma were its most important representatives, transforming this style into one which is often considered typical for this branch of Dutch Protestantism.6 They experimented freely with plastic and expres-sive forms, using all the possible effects achievable from brickwork in the creation of coloured and tonal contrasts. In 1925, Boeyinga built the Koningskerk in Haarlem, a centrally-planned structure with seating positioned in an innovative fan-shaped layout around the pulpit and the organ.7 This model served a twofold purpose, namely enabling the believers to see each other and for all to see and hear the preacher in the pulpit. Especially spectacular is the church from 1930 built by



8 Cf. G.P. KARSTKAREL: ‘Kerkbouw voor en na de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Vooroor-logse ideeën komen na 1945 aan bod’, in STEENSMA & VAN SWIGCHEM: Honderdvijftig jaar 89.

9 FALIZE: ‘De kerkbouw tussen de wereldoorlogen’ 85.10 R. STEENSMA: ‘De liturgische inrichting’, in STEENSMA & VAN SWIGCHEM:

Hondervijftig jaar 137.

Reitsma in the North-Holland village of Andijk, locally called the ‘Reformed Cathedral’, in which the expressionist aesthetics of the Amsterdam School reached their height [Ill. 1]. The main entrance and the pulpit in this church are situated on the opposing long sides of the nave, which is covered by a parabolic vault, very popular at the time. After the striking exuberance of Haarlem and Andijk – which is even more surprising given the austerity of Reformed theology and ritual – both Boeyinga and Reitsma became increasingly oriented towards a more subdued cubist style influenced by the famous architect W.M. Dudok.8

In spite of all these architectural developments, many churches remained quite traditional in their interior arrangements, with a strong emphasis on the pulpit as the dominant central element. Characteristic examples of this type of centrally planned church are a number of build-ings designed by the above-mentioned T. Kuipers, such as the Westerkerk in Rotterdam and the Funenkerk in Amsterdam (demolished), and churches by other Reformed architects such as A. van der Kraan and B.W. Plooy. Van der Kraan’s design for the Zuiderkerk in Leiden dating from 1937 follows a quarter circle plan with the pulpit and the organ in the apex – an extreme example of the idea of ‘gathering around the Word’.9 Churches were generally designed in order to provide space for as many churchgoers as possible, with usually two or three rows of benches facing the pulpit at the end of the room: a rationalist approach which can be viewed as a carry-over from the nineteenth century.10 A feature characteristic of many church buildings from the first decades of the twentieth century is the placement of the elevated pulpit inside a wide niche together with the organ, creating a strong liturgical focus. Around the pulpit there was usually only limited space for a Communion table, a simple bowl-shaped font and sometimes a lectern. The above-mentioned Boeyinga, inspired by the ideas of Abraham Kuyper, was among the first Reformed architects to slightly enlarge the podium around the pulpit in order to provide space for a table and a fixed font, thus creating a stronger visual emphasis on the sacraments of Baptism



11 Kuyper expressed his ideas in a series of articles which were published as A. KUYPER: Onze Eeredienst (Kampen 1911).

12 J.H. GERRETSEN: Liturgie (Den Haag 1911). On the Liturgical Movement in the Dutch Reformed Church, see also J.F. LESCRAUWAET: De liturgische beweging onder de Nederlandse Hervormden in oecumenisch perspectief. Een fenomenologische en kritische studie (Bussum 1957) 78-82.

and Communion,11 with an example of this being the Koningskerk in Haarlem, dating from 1926.

2. Rediscovery of the Sacrament (1920-1955)

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Liturgical Movement took root in the Netherlands Reformed Church, placing strong emphasis on liturgical elements other than the sermon. The origins of this move-ment are often situated in 1911, the year in which J.H. Gerretsen, min-ister at the Kloosterkerk in The Hague, published a number of articles on liturgy.12 Gerretsen called for a stronger emphasis on the element of

Ill. 1. The ‘Reformed Cathedral’ in Andijk, designed by E. Reitsma in 1930 (Photo: Institute for Christian Cultural Heritage, University of Groningen)



13 R. STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren. Een studie over de spanning tussen liturgie en monumentenzorg bij de herinrichting en het gebruik van monumentale her-vormde kerken (Baarn 1982) 11. The introduction to this book comprises a helpful survey of liturgical developments in the Netherlands Reformed Church during the twentieth century.

14 See the contribution of Klaas-Willem de Jong on the Liturgical Movement and the Protestant churches in this volume.

15 See the contribution of Marcel Barnard on the Prof. dr G. van der Leeuw Foun-dation in this volume.

16 Het wezen van den Eeredienst. Rapport van de Kerkopbouw-commissie tot bestudeering van het liturgisch vraagstuk (Baarn 1933).

Adoration and wished a more expressive and aesthetical approach to the liturgy.13 Together with the Reverend H. Creutzberg in IJmuiden, Gerretsen experimented with new liturgical forms and alternative Orders of Service. The traditional liturgy in the Dutch Protestant Church was studied and discussed in the light of Ecumenics, with the Anglican tradition serving as an important source of inspiration. In 1921, the Liturgische Kring (Liturgical Circle) was founded by nine theologians under the leadership of the Groningen professor G. van der Leeuw.14 During the 1930s, the new insights gained ground in broader circles within the Netherlands Reformed Church, including church musicians and ordinary parishioners who organised study seminars and workshops on liturgy. After the second World War, interest in and further consid-eration of the liturgy continued, leading to the creation of new podia and networks such as the Prof. dr G. van der Leeuw Foundation15 and the journals Kerk en Eredienst and Jaarboek voor de Eredienst. The adher-ents of the Liturgical Movement, who were often themselves involved in liturgical practice, proposed a more balanced approach to the liturgy, in which the traditional focus on preaching would be relaxed and more interest be taken in the Sacraments of Baptism and especially Communion.

In 1933, the Commission on Church Community (Commissie voor Kerkopbouw) within the Netherlands Reformed Church issued a study on the ‘Essence of the Church Service’, which stated that every part of the liturgy was of an intrinsic sacramental character.16 This view was clearly inspired by ecumenical ideals which took their inspiration from nineteenth-century developments in the Lutheran Church in Germany and the Anglican Oxford Movement. A programmatic church building erected according to the ideals of the Liturgical Movement was the Duinoord Church in The Hague, designed by the English architect



17 STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 11.18 STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 15.19 G. VAN DER LEEUW: Liturgiek (Nijkerk 1940).

W.A. Forsyth in 1919. This church building, destroyed during the second World War, bore a certain Anglican character with its cruciform ground plan and raised platform at the end of the hall. With regard to church furnishings, the adherents of the Liturgical Movement aimed at ‘restoring’ the chancel of historic (often medieval) churches to their original function as a liturgical podium.17 A church where similar ideas were put into practice was the Netherlands Reformed church at Gin-neken, where B. ter Haar Romeny served as minister between 1916 and 1947. A central processional way was created in the middle of the nave, leading to the platform holding a fixed stone baptismal font and a Com-munion table in the shape of a block altar. Thus, the church was con-verted from a Protestant preaching hall into a ceremonial space for the liturgy. The church in Ginneken would exert wide influence in the Netherlands and become the archetype of how medieval churches con-verted for Dutch Reformed worship should be furnished.18

These and other very distinct ideas about liturgy were systematically thought through and formulated by one of its leading figures, G. van der Leeuw, who published a highly influential study on the subject called Liturgiek.19 He taught that the internal structure of the church building must be determined by a twofold service, relating to the sacrifice of the Lord in both Word and Sacrament. In reaction to the traditional weight attached to the sermon in Dutch Protestantism, Van der Leeuw strongly emphasised the celebration of the Communion, called ‘Holy Supper’ in Calvinism. In his vision, the Communion table was not only the place where the Supper was celebrated, but also the locus for the proclamation of the Gospel. The pulpit, according to Van der Leeuw, was no more than an extended function of the ‘altar space’, which is the chancel in medieval churches. On this basis, he wished to place the table in the centre of the chancel, with the pulpit adjacent to it on one side or the other. This ‘liturgical centre’ was to be slightly elevated in order to both stress its special significance and improve its visibility. In the nave, a central axial path was to be cleared, so that the choir could be approached with dignity by the believers. Van der Leeuw explicitly referred to Early Christian models for his idealtype of church furnishing, with the servant and his elders sitting behind the table in the middle of



20 On church architecture after the second World War in the Netherlands, see also G.-J. VAN DER HARST: ‘Beknopte geschiedenis van het Nederlandse protestantse kerk-gebouw tijdens de Wederopbouw’, in A. SCHRAM et al.: Kansen voor kerkgebouwen. Vragen en uitdagingen bij gebruik en herbestemming (Utrecht 2007).

21 However, in medieval churches the view of the chancel was usually blocked by a rood loft or chancel screen, which then had to be removed.

22 See STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren passim.

the chancel, which was to be separated from the nave by means of cancelli, a low railing with a central opening. A main concern was the ‘restoration’ of the medieval chancel, albeit not as a reserved domain for the clergy. Thus, in historic churches, an imagined original plan was dictated and projected upon churches that in reality had never been furnished in that manner.

After the end of the second World War, the growth of new residential areas in Dutch towns and cities required the building of many new Reformed churches. For many of these new buildings a surprisingly traditional architecture was adopted, mostly corresponding to the old plan of a right-angled, longitudinal hall.20 However, the new insights of the Liturgical Movement had a strong impact on the way in which these churches were furnished. The new ideas about the treatment of Word and Sacrament had found broad support in all of the major Protestant denominations, including the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which felt closely aligned with the broad centre of the Netherlands Reformed Church. Moreover, its influence was not at all tempered by the Department for the Preservation of Historic Buildings and Sites in the Netherlands (Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg), who even took over and propagated sections of its principles. In this respect, they were per-suaded by the liturgists, who stated that the changes were no more than a return to the original plan of the medieval church, which they mistak-enly supposed had been completely focused around the high altar in the chancel.21 The above mentioned Department for the Preservation of Historic Buildings was primarily concerned about the architecture, whereas the monumental furnishings were often badly neglected. As a consequence, churches such as those in Tholen, Workum, Schiedam and Holwierde, all medieval buildings with important Protestant furnishings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were greatly affected by the many interior alterations during the late 1940s and 1950s, as a result of which they have lost a great deal of their historic charm.22



23 A survey of the controversies is presented in LESCRAUWAET: De liturgische beweging 142-153.

24 O. NOORDMANS: Liturgie (Amsterdam 1939).

In the 1950s, many leading figures in the Netherlands Reformed Church had become fervent followers of the Liturgical Movement. One of them was the Leiden professor and church historian J.N. Bakhuizen van den Brink, who was the president of the Advisory Commission for Church Building and Restoration (Bouw- en Restauratiecommissie) in the Dutch Reformed Church from 1946 to 1961. As such, his ideas exerted a strong influence on restoration practice. Bakhuizen argued that the inte-rior of a church should be designed in order to enhance the encounter with God, something which would best be realised by an axial arrange-ment of both the building and its furnishings. Therefore, he considered the longitudinal shape, with a clear boundary between the benches and the ‘sanctuary’, to be the best model, thus discarding the centrally planned building as unsuitable for the liturgy. Bakhuizen and others adopted these principles not only in newly built churches, but also in old churches which were to be restored or refurnished. As a conse-quence, in hundreds of historic churches, the spatial organisation was drastically altered from a centrally planned model to a longitudinal one by moving the pulpit from the nave to the chancel boundary. Unfortu-nately, many pulpit railings (doophekken) were sacrificed to achieve this purpose, being dismantled and moved, or simply ousted. Benches and chairs were placed in long rows in the nave facing the pulpit, and the Communion table was positioned at the end of the church space.

3. Wide acceptance of the new insights (1950-1970)

Although the principles of the Liturgical Movement encountered growing support in wide circles of Dutch Protestantism, critical voices were also heard.23 As early as the late 1930s, O. Noordmans argued that Van der Leeuw’s focus on the Communion table was too strong. He did not hesitate to call it a ‘betrayal of Christ’ to conceive of the church service as a ‘sacrifice’ taking place on an ‘altar’, two notions which the adherents of the Liturgical Movement had actively adopted.24 The only sacrifice to be commemorated, according to Noordmans, was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is in Heaven. Therefore, the one true liturgy is that of



25 Cf. R. STEENSMA: ‘Nieuw liturgisch meubilair in protestantse kerken’, in Jaarboek voor liturgie-onderzoek 21 (2005) 233-258, p. 235.

Heaven, which is replaced on earth by the proclamation of the Gospel. Although Noordmans’ fear was possibly exaggerated, it was Van der Leeuw himself who had triggered it by using the term ‘altar table’ instead of ‘Communion table’. Noordmans wished the pulpit to remain the centre of attention in the Protestant Service, as the sermon was to be considered the central element. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, liturgists would debate on the question of whether the pulpit or the Communion table should be considered the centre of the liturgy. Both options were exalted by their adherents as the true form of liturgy, while others invented compromise solutions such as placing the table in front of the pulpit, the pulpit in front of the benches with the table in the centre, or the pulpit and table both in the middle, next to each other. The further the discussion developed, the less fruitful it became. Sur-prisingly enough, all participants agreed on the longitudinal orientation of church buildings, with an eastward focus.25

In the course of the 1950s and 1960s, this academic discussion began to have an effect within broad segments of the two reformed traditions. New ways of using the Communion table were introduced as ministers began to spend large part of the service standing behind them. In many communities, the frequency of celebrating the Holy Supper was increased from only twice a year to eight or ten times. The growing importance of the table was expressed in many instances by placing it with the pulpit and baptismal font at the east end of the hall on a raised platform called the liturgical centre, which was strongly reminiscent of the chancel plinth in medieval churches. Although the arrangement of the liturgical fixtures on a raised podium improved the visibility of the ritual, at the same time the distance between the community and the ceremonies greatly increased. A wide range of variations in the arrangement and design of the liturgical furnishings developed: sometimes the pulpit, which could be made of wood, stone, concrete, metal or a combination of these elements, was placed in the centre, while elsewhere it was on one side. Although most pulpits were fixed, the wish for a certain degree of flexibility stimulated the construction of moveable platforms which were little more than large lecterns with sideboards. Similarly, the Com-munion table was designed in a variety of forms and materials. Most tables were made of wood, but stone and brick tables were also used.



26 Many examples can be found in R. STEENSMA: ‘De liturgische inrichting’, in STEENSMA & VAN SWIGCHEM: Honderdvijftig jaar 137-152.

27 Beginselen van kerkbouw. Rapport uitgebracht aan de Generale Synode der Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk door de daartoe benoemde commissie (s.l. s.a.).

28 Beginselen van kerkbouw 21.29 Beginselen van kerkbouw 16.30 Beginselen van kerkbouw 89.

Their dimensions could vary greatly, depending on the way in which the local community celebrated the Holy Supper. Some tables were the size of a large dining table, while others were up to eight to ten metres long. Baptismal fonts were mostly fixed and made of stone, though wood and metal were also used.26

In 1954, the General Synod of the Netherlands Reformed Church accepted the report, Principles in Church Building (Beginselen van kerk-bouw), which was written by a commission consisting of three architects and three theologians.27 It can be considered to be a synthesis of the ideas of both the Liturgical Movement and its critics. The report moves away from the firm points of view held by many with regard to longi-tudinal or centrally planned patterns and the either/or discussions con-cerning pulpits and Communion tables. It states that liturgy is in a process of continuous development and that, as a consequence, liturgi-cal space must sometimes be adapted to its users: ‘The dynamic charac-ter of the liturgy requires space for growth, development and changes respectively, which will continue to occur, even if it essentially remains the same.’28 It is interesting to note how, in the report, the church building also acquired a certain autonomy: ‘It is not right to let the liturgy in a strict sense determine the church building. The building needs to be the architectural glorification, just as the liturgy should be the ever repeated glorification by the community. Here, liturgy and archi-tecture run parallel to each other.’29 Unlike opinions expressed by many other followers of the Liturgical Movement, the report often presents more than one option and warns against too great a distance between the liturgical centre and the community: ‘We call for an equilibrated placement of the pulpit, Communion table and baptismal font (…). Pulpit, table and font are three moments in Reformed liturgy, which, separately, need to be primal.’30

An important renewal in the layout of Protestant church buildings was introduced by the architect K.L. Sijmons, who wished to create suf-ficient space for both elements of the Service, Word and Sacrament.



31 The largest number of these arrangements have been preserved in the province of Groningen.

32 Cf. J.J. BREDIUS: De Adventskerk te Aerdenhout. De concretisering van een visie (Aerdenhout 1983).

Since a combination of the two had proved to cause many problems, he decided to create two separate spaces, one for the Service of the Word and one for the Service of the Sacrament. This dual arrangement did not imply that the two elements had completely lost contact, as the spaces blended harmoniously in a coherent ensemble. Although these ideas seemed quite revolutionary, they were actually reminiscent of the early Protestantism of the seventeenth century, when many chancels, having lost their purpose due to the Reformation, were used as separate spaces for the Holy Supper, with fixed tables and seating.31 The first church in which Sijmons put his ideas into practice was the Adventskerk in The Hague, which was finished in 1955. Next to the space for the Service of the Word, which housed both the pulpit and the baptismal font, there is a separate space for the celebration of the Holy Supper. This area is completely open to the main hall, and its separate status is only accentuated by a lowered ceiling and a raised floor. In another church built by Sijmons, the Adventskerk in Aerdenhout, built in 1958, the separation of the spaces is even less apparent, with no change in the floor level. Sijmons’ spaces for the celebration of the Supper could be used in two ways: the fixed table could be lengthened with moveable extensions and chairs provided for seating large groups, or people could also choose to stand around the table in a large circle.32

The epitome of Sijmons’ church architecture is the Thomas Church in Amsterdam dating from 1966, where both spaces are completely separate and fluently merged at the same time in a design which can be termed ‘functionalist’. The spaces for celebrating the Word and the Sac-rament are situated at right angles to each other, and are separated by a large column at the corner junction. In the area designed for the cele-bration of the Holy Supper, there is a stone table around which the community can stand. This part of the church is low and protected, in contrast to the open and soaring space around the pulpit. The church has no specific liturgical centre, but rather the whole church has become a fluent liturgical space, with the community moving almost unsuspect-ingly from one place to another. Sijmons’ liturgical insights had some influence on church architecture in the Netherlands, although they



33 Separate spaces for the Holy Supper were also created in some other churches, including the Tabernakelkerk in Apeldoorn (1965), designed by J.H. van der Zee, the Michaëlkerk in Spijkenisse (1963), designed by R.H. Fledderus, and the Immanuëlkerk in Delft (1960), designed by F. Eschauzier, A. van den Berg and P. de Vletter. In the Triumfatorkerk in Utrecht, built by L. de Jonge in 1965, pulpit and table are arranged in a rather unusual way, with the table situated in an area extending behind the pulpit.

34 Cf. R. STEENSMA: ‘Beeldende kunst van Berend Hendriks in Nederlandse kerken’, in Jaarboek voor liturgie-onderzoek 1 (1985) 135-172.

35 Examples mentioned by KARSTKAREL: ‘Kerkbouw voor en na de Tweede Wereld-oorlog’ 96-99.

could not compete with the success of the Liturgical Movement.33 In addition to its liturgical arrangement, the Thomas Church in Amsterdam is also remarkable for its neo-expressionist architecture carried out in unfinished brick and concrete. This architectural style, often called ‘bru-talism’, was popularised by the Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier in his chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp dating from 1955. Another feature in the Thomas church which is reminiscent of this French church is a symbolic glass-in-concrete window behind the pulpit, created by the Spanish artist Antonio Saura. These often non-figurative and highly stylised compositions found wide acceptance in Protestant churches with their limited iconographic tradition. An artist specialised in this genre was Berend Hendriks, whose oeuvre reflects a development from specifically Christian iconography towards a more open and universal imagery.34

Although liturgical and aesthetic renewal had most of their origins within the Netherlands Reformed Church, their concepts and models began to spread to other ramifications of Dutch Protestantism too, such as the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. In architecture, after a period of stylistic pluralism in the late 1940s and 1950s, here too, func-tionalism eventually found broad acceptance. A number of functionalist churches were built with box-like, skeletal structures of concrete and steel which allowed the side walls to remain largely open.35 In 1960, the architects Jo Van den Broek and Jaap Bakema designed the church at Nagele, a newly founded village designed in the functionalist style, situ-ated in the Noord oostpolder, an area reclaimed from the Zuiderzee in the 1930s. This church is composed of right-angled spaces built from concrete slabs, and the absence of large windows lends the church a fortress-like appearance. Among the most expressive box-shaped churches



36 STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 19.37 On this restoration and the discussions it raised, see STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten

meevieren 93-98.

are two examples in The Hague designed by the architect G. Drexhage. The walls of the Christus Triomfatorkerk from 1962 in the eastern part of the city and the Ontmoetingskerk from 1969 in Loosduinen [Ill. 2] are made entirely of glass, with Venetian blinds to temper the sunlight penetrating the room. In 1966, the architects Drexhage and Van Wal-raven built the Maranatha Church in Dordrecht, a box-shaped brick building with buttresses, and glass squints which shed light on the inte-rior. The elementary forms of these churches make such structures almost unrecognisable as churches, a situation which is further strength-ened by the fact that many buildings lacked fully-fledged steeples, as the bells were often hung in low, simple belfries.

In spite of all the criticism and the alternatives developed in reaction to the overall influence of the Liturgical Movement, its ideas would continue to dominate the interpretation of the liturgy and associated church furnishings far beyond the 1960s. One of its channels of influ-ence was the Service Book (Dienstboek) for the Netherlands Reformed Church, issued in 1950-1955, which contains orders of service for dif-ferent types of church celebrations. Together with the above-mentioned report Principles of Church Building from 1954, this book reflects a large part of the ideas propagated by the Liturgical Movement and would strongly stimulate the spread of its insights. However, despite their gen-erally well-balanced recommendations, official publications such as these also had some significant shortcomings, especially when applied to his-toric churches.36 The restoration of the Great Church in The Hague is a case in point. In 1960, a plan was presented which closely followed the principles of the Liturgical Movement: the pulpit was to be moved to the chancel boundary, the railing around the pulpit would disappear, the chancel screen was to be moved elsewhere and the seating would occur in long rows in the nave, facing east. Protests soon came from those emphasising the great historic value of the church furnishings, among whom were certain representatives of the Royal Dutch Society of Antiquities (Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond).37 In spite of strong opposition, the refurnishing was eventually carried out according to the plans. Nevertheless, the events led to some critical reflection on the ideas of the Liturgical Movement, and there was



38 See STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 21-22.

growing circumspection during the 1960s, with church restorers becom-ing less and less eager to move pulpits and remove sections of the historic furnishings.

4. Growing participation of the community (1960-1980)

Critical voices were also raised among liturgists, including A.F.N. Lekkerkerker, professor of liturgy at Groningen University from 1959 to 1976.38 He stressed that the result of the rearrangement of church interiors according to the views of the Liturgical Movement was exactly the opposite of what their instigators strove for, as the creation of ‘litur-gical centres’ at the end of the church space implied a growing distance between the community and the minister. Furthermore, in cases where

Ill. 2. The Ontmoetingskerk in The Hague-Loosduinen, designed by G. Drexhage in 1969

(Photo: Institute for Christian Cultural Heritage, University of Groningen)



39 Cf. R. STEENSMA: Geschiedenis van kerkbouw en kerkgebruik (Groningen 1984, unpublished) 193 and IDEM: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 93-98.

40 Overwegingen bij kerkbouw (Utrecht 1967 = Brochurereeks van de Generale Deputaten Kerkopbouw van de Gereformeerde kerken in Nederland 3).

the railing around the pulpit was removed, the height of the pulpit was optically increased. Furthermore, a problem with the wide-spread podium was the participation of the community in certain rituals, espe-cially in the Holy Supper. Because space on the often small podiums did not permit a large group of participants to stand around the table, the idea of a ‘Communion table’ proved almost impossible in practice. Generally, the space around the baptismal font was somewhat greater, but even then, in some instances the minister and the child’s parents stood dangerously close to the edge of the podium.39 By regarding the church building primarily as a house for the community, Lekkerkerker introduced a new aspect into the discussion about church furnishings. Without providing overly practical recommendations for the furnishing of church buildings, he was among the first to stress the importance of the atmosphere in churches. Among other theologians concerned with the question of how to create a church in which people would feel at home, H.S. Blankesteijn and W.G. Overbosch should also be mentioned. Their writings stimulated interest in modern church architecture and decoration, a field often neglected in the Dutch Protestant tradition.

From the 1960s onwards, Dutch society underwent a rapid process of secularisation leading to a sharp decrease in church attendance. Many believers blamed this on the lack of participation by the community in the church service. A liturgy more compatible with modern life was yearned for, and a ceremony led by a single person (‘one man show’) was taken less and less for granted. During the 1960s, the idea of involving the community more in the liturgy became a major concern among believers in all the main denominations of Dutch Protestantism. In 1967, the Community Deputies (Deputaten kerkopbouw) in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands stated that the main purpose of a church building was ‘to facilitate the community to become the church’.40 Church buildings, it continued, should enable people to act, think and feel together, with the material conditions being completely secondary. The church was primarily approached as a ‘house’ rather than an auditorium, and it was designed for an active community of believers who, in an active and creative manner, would participate in



41 G. BEKAERT: In een of ander huis. Kerkbouw op een keerpunt (Tielt 1967).42 See especially W. INGWERSEN: Kerkbouw een daadwerkelijke zaak (published by

the Gereformeerd Sociologisch Instituut in January 1961).43 R. STEENSMA: ‘Kerkbouw in de jaren zestig’, in STEENSMA & VAN SWIGCHEM:

Honderdvijftig jaar 103.

and add to the church service. These insights required the church building to have a certain degree of spatial flexibility. One way to achieve this was by rejecting the liturgical podium and transforming the entire church interior into a liturgical centre into which all the elements would be integrated. Some of these insights were inspired by contemporary developments in the Roman Catholic Church, with the 1967 study In een of ander huis by G. Bekaert in particular having great influence.41

The architect W. Ingwersen was among the first to put these com-munitarian ideas into practice. He disapproved of both the leading archi-tectural styles of his time, namely traditionalism and functionalism.42 In his views, the architecture of a church needed to convey a clear symbolism which could act as a bridge between the present and a transcendent, divine reality. Ingwersen wished his churches to epitomise the Body of Christ, and to provide space for believers to communicate with God and with each other. He designed churches with forms which were distinct from purely utilitarian buildings, and he rejected the use of overly func-tional materials such as linoleum. By creating contrasts such as those between light and dark, or angled and round, Ingwersen tried to create an environment full of architectural features designed to evoke an atmos-phere of contemplation. He was strongly opposed to the idea of a liturgi-cal centre in which all liturgical activity would take place. The whole church should become liturgical space, according to Ingwersen, begin-ning with the idea that ‘the liturgy is the architect’.43 His first church in Nijmegen dates from 1963 [Ill. 3] and is typical with its one corner raised to a point, betraying the influence of Ronchamp. In the furnish-ings of his Vrijheidskerk in Alkmaar from 1967, the ideas as expressed by the Deputies in the same year are clearly followed, with the font placed in a central corridor between the benches. Following Ingwersen, many Reformed architects began to experiment with new forms and propor-tions. W.G. Quist, for example, was the first to build a church in the form of a tent or pyramid, a form that would find many followers during the 1960s and 1970s, while churches with oval-shaped ground plans were built in Arnhem (1962) and Rijswijk (1966), among other places.



44 STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 25.45 Cited in STEENSMA: Opdat de ruimten meevieren 25.

In 1976, a symposium was held at VU University, Amsterdam, which revealed that many believers did not experience what they thought was essential in liturgy, namely the community of saints, the autonomy of believers and engagement in the world.44 Young people in particular argued for a liturgy to which they could make a real contribution. G.N. Lammens, professor of liturgy at Amsterdam VU University stated:45

Celebrating together greatly strengthens the idea of living in a commu-nity. Yet the aspect of community in the conventional church service has been reduced to a minimum. Nowhere are we more strongly thrown back on ourselves than in the current celebration of the Supper, which is surely not only intended for community with the Lord, but also with each other.

Ill. 3. Interior of the Maranatha Church in Nijmegen, designed by W. Ingwersen in 1963 (Photo: Institute for Christian

Cultural Heritage, University of Groningen)



46 Cf. F.N.M. NIJSSEN & L. DEN BESTEN: In het centrum van de aandacht. Over stiltecentra, pastorale winkels, informatiecentra als vorm van missionaire dienst (’s-Gravenhage 1980).

An element of play was to be introduced into the church service, some-thing which G.J. Hoenderdaal described as ‘liberating’. In many churches, the liturgical scope was widened by arranging special services for children and teenagers, discussion or art groups, singing events, and cantata services. Ideas such as these had great consequences for the spatial organisation of churches, as space was needed for groups of children to gather around the baptismal font during a baptism and for people standing in a wide circle around the Communion table. These kinds of celebra-tions enabled people to face one another and hold hands. In many churches singer choirs were installed, requiring space to stand and sit, and space was also needed for incidental plays, such as those at Christmas, Easter or Whit Sunday.

The newly felt requirements not only related to the services, as space was also needed afterwards for people to enjoy a cup of coffee and socialise. For this purpose, churches were provided with large meeting halls resembling hotel lounges, with a counter and a number of tables and chairs. During a period in which the church was felt to be moving towards the margins of society, many thought that in order to sustain a real community the church had to become a house for the faithful not only during the Sunday service but also after the service and throughout the week. Moreover, many Christians yearned for a church that engaged with society at large, both locally and worldwide. Development projects, poverty relief and youth guidance programmes were established, for which information stands were installed in order to inform the churchgoers about these initiatives. The way in which the church tried to engage with the secular world is also illustrated by the rise of so-called day chapels and rooms of silence, which reached out to the needs of a broader public at the margins of religion or outside the church, inviting them to come inside for a moment’s peace.46 The first church to incor-porate a meditation room was De Ark (The Ark) in Amsterdam, dating from 1960. An oval-shaped chapel next to the main church hall pro-vided space for about ten chairs. The ecumenical centre De Regenboog (The Rainbow) in Leeuwarden from 1971, which was used by both the Reformed and Roman Catholic communities, had a chapel which could be reached directly from the hall. The room had solid walls and only



47 This development was also stimulated by economic conditions, as decreasing church attendance generated less income for the church.

received indirect daylight through a lump of coloured glass set into con-centric circles of basalt and sandstone. The chapel had about twenty seats and was used for both reflection and small services.

In a number of cases, another step towards engaging with the world was made by designing churches as multifunctional halls.47 A clear example is the De Trefkoel in the Groningen suburb of Paddepoel, which was termed an ‘ecclesiastical centre’ (kerkelijk centrum) [Ill. 4]. This estab-lishment was a common initiative between the Roman Catholic, Dutch Reformed and Reformed communities, who all held their services on Sunday mornings. In order to fit all, two separate chapels were built, one at each end of the complex. The Reformed community used De Schoof (The Sheaf) chapel, while De Wingerd (The Vineyard) chapel was used by the Roman Catholic and Dutch Reformed communities. Both church halls had flexible furnishing systems allowing easy removal, which made them available for many kinds of non-church activities, such as meetings and conferences, theatre, parties and bazaars. After the church service, all the furniture could be stored away except for the organ, leaving little to remind the visitors of the hall’s religious purpose on Sunday mornings. Beside the two chapels, secondary rooms were also built in which people could meet after the church service, and where other community activities could take place. As the municipality of Groningen was also involved in the development of De Trefkoel, it was intended to become a centre for social and cultural activities. As well as the two chapels, it comprised a library, a cinema, a restaurant, a reception and information centre, a medical centre, a school for musical education, a society for the elderly and a club house for youngsters.

5. Towards a new millennium, 1980-present

If we compare the churches built from 1980 onwards with those erected in earlier decades, most striking is the fact that relatively few were built. The sharp decrease in the building of churches must be understood as a direct consequence of a strong drop in church membership and attendance. According to the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau), the ‘market share’ of the two largest



48 Cf. J. BECKER & J. DE HART: Godsdienstige verhoudingen in Nederland. Verschui-vingen in de binding met de kerken en de christelijke traditie (Den Haag 2006) 4.

49 BECKER & DE HART: Godsdienstige verhoudingen 5.

Protestant churches, the Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands has plummeted from 31 per cent in 1958 to less than 10 per cent in 2004.48 It is expected that this percentage will further shrink to a mere 4 per cent by 2020, in spite of some optimistic voices both in the church and in society at large who claim to witness a religious revival in Dutch society since the 1990s. Within the church itself, another trend takes place, namely strongly diminishing church attendance, especially among young church mem-bers: while in 1970, 67 per cent of the church members attended serv-ice at least once every two weeks, in 2004 this number had dropped to 38 per cent.49 A second feature is the fact that the multifunctional, flexible church hall, which was widely embraced during the 1970s, had lost

Ill. 4. De Trefkoel, a so-called ‘ecclesiastical centre’ in Groningen, built in 1973 (Photo: Institute for Christian Cultural Heritage,

University of Groningen)



50 J. BROEKHUIZEN et. al.: De kerkruimte. Plaats van samenkomst en ontmoeting (Zoeter-meer 1994). Acting as an advisory board for local communities, this commission has exerted strong influence in the practice of restoration and refurnishing of churches all over the Netherlands.

51 BROEKHUIZEN et. al.: De kerkruimte 9.

much of its popularity by the early 1980s. Many churchgoers found that the sacral sense was lost in a space which was used as a gymnasium or for social events during the week. Also, experiences with the ecu-menical ideal of cohabitation of different communities had proved to be far from unproblematic. In general, the 1980s and especially the 1990s were characterised by a renewed quest for tradition and sacrality, with churches increasingly distinguishing themselves from surrounding utili-tarian buildings, albeit in contemporary forms and materials.

With regard to church furnishings, the principles of the Liturgical Movement together with the concept of the whole church being a space for the liturgy have continued to dominate. In 1994, the latest position on the issue was summarised in a study on ‘Church Space: Place of Gathering and Meeting’, issued by the Advisory Commission for Church Building and Restoration in the Netherlands Reformed Church.50 The commission moved away from the idea that a church has a centre and a periphery, stating that the community was not merely a public audience for the liturgy but should play an active role in it.51 Therefore, a strict dichotomy between the benches and what was called ‘a quasi sacramental podium’ was rejected because it hampered the flexible use of space. Pulpit/lectern, font and table were to be placed in their own logical positions, thus stress-ing their significance, with a reasonable amount of space around them. It was recommended that the Communion table be placed on a podium to reinforce visibility, although this should be limited in size, since it was only intended for the minister and not for the community. Baptismal fonts, according to the commission, should be placed at floor level between the benches. In many churches, more than during previous decades, all the liturgical fixtures – lectern, table, font and Easter candle – were created according to one overall design. Good examples of new liturgical furnish-ings can be found in Het Kruispunt (The Crossroads) in Velserbroek. Sometimes, as in the Zorgvlietkerk in The Hague and the Old Church at Grou, with both furnishings dating from 1992, striking materials which contrasted with the benches or the historic atmosphere in the church were chosen.



52 R. STEENSMA & R.H. KNIJFF: Model Oranjekapel. Vervanging van grote kerken door kleine (Zoetermeer 1992).

53 On this subject, see also J.E.A. KROESEN: ‘Recycling Sacred Space. The Fate of Financially Burdensome and Redundant Churches in the Netherlands’, in P. POST & A.L. MOLENDIJK (eds.): Holy Ground. Re-inventing Ritual Space in Modern Western Culture (Leuven etc. 2010 = Liturgia condenda 24) 179-210.

Since 1980, the number of newly built churches has come to be over-shadowed by the number of churches which have had to be hived off or even demolished. As the process of secularisation continues in Dutch society, many churches have become redundant or too large for the ever decreasing number of churchgoers. Moreover, many communities can no longer afford the upkeep of their large and often expensive buildings. This is partly a consequence of the fact that in the Netherlands, other than in many other European countries, Protestant church buildings are owned by the local community of believers, for which it is the commu-nity itself which is in charge of the often costly upkeep of the building. One solution to these problems which has been adopted since the early 1980s is that of replacing large churches with new church buildings of more limited dimensions. In 1992, Regnerus Steensma and Roel Knijff published a study on this subject entitled ‘Model Oranjekapel – Replacing large churches with smaller ones’.52 The publication was named after the Oranjekapel in the city of Utrecht which replaced the Oranjekerk in 1983 [Ill. 5]. The Oranjekerk had been built in 1925 and accommo-dated some 800 people; however, the community had sharply decreased and by the early 1980s only about sixty people attended Sunday services. A smaller church to be built on the same site was designed by Van Overhagen architects. The original tower was retained as a landmark for the neighbourhood, flanking the church of some 130 seats. In its litur-gical furnishings, the Oranjekapel reflects the communitarian ideals of a more dynamic liturgy. It lacks a raised podium and has a table and lectern at each end of the room, thus creating an elliptical model as propagated by J.H. Uytenbogaardt and J. Kronenburg, among others.

Today, the question concerning the treatment of redundant churches has become much more pressing than those concerning how to build or furnish new ones.53 During the Year of Religious Heritage (Jaar van het Religieus Erfgoed) organised in 2008, the topic of needy church buildings has gained itself a prominent place on the agenda. In 2007, estimates are that every four days a middle-sized community is forced to close its



doors somewhere in the Netherlands. Ironically, the disposal of church buildings has experienced a new impulse from 2004 onward as a result of the merger of the Netherlands Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in the King-dom of the Netherlands into the united Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Many unified communities have decided to dispose of one or even two of their two or three church buildings and to continue using only one, generally the oldest and largest church, which usually offers enough space for the whole community. As alternatives to demolition,

Ill. 5. The Utrecht Oranjekerk was replaced by a smaller chapel in 1983 (Photo: Institute for Christian Cultural Heritage, University of Groningen)



54 See J.E.A. KROESEN: ‘Stiltecentra’, in Jaarboek voor liturgie-onderzoek 13 (1997) 93-133; J. HOLSAPPEL-BRONS: Ruimte voor stilte. Stiltecentra in Nederland als speelveld van traditie en vernieuwing (Groningen / Tilburg 2010).

in many cases, at first attempts are made to find a new purpose with a cultural or humanistic streak, such as a museum or a health care centre, which are felt to carry on certain aspects of the former religious use of the church. A well-known example of a medieval church put to a new purpose as a museum is the Buurkerk in the old city centre of Utrecht. Since 1984, the church has housed the National Museum ‘From Musical Clock to Street Organ’ (Nationaal Museum Van Speelklok tot Pierement), which annually receives some 125,000 visitors. In Amsterdam, the seventeenth-century Zuiderkerk (South Church) has been used by the city of Amsterdam as an information centre on urban planning and environmental policy since 1988. Despite initiatives such as these, the majority of redundant non-monumental churches in the Netherlands end up as pieces of real estate on the market of supply and demand which takes no account of the religious history of the building.

At the end of this survey, mention should be made of the so-called ‘Rooms of silence’, which originated in the 1980s and have now spread widely throughout Dutch religious land- and cityscape. Although most of these so-called stiltecentra are to be found in hospitals and other health care institutions, they were also set up in educational centres and semi-public spaces such as airports and shopping centres.54 A number of churches have tried to respond to this new phenomenon by designating part of the building for reflection and prayer, as in the Zorgvlietkerk in The Hague where the meditation chapel is especially used by office workers from the neighbourhood. In historic churches visited by large numbers of tourists, such as the Utrecht Domkerk and the Great Church in Dordrecht, rooms of silence were installed in side chapels. In many of these rooms of silence, visitors can write personal thoughts in a book of intentions. Sometimes, religious literature and poetry is also provided, along with art works on the walls which create an atmosphere of reflec-tion. Abstract art is increasingly preferred, as people relate less and less to motifs and symbols from the Christian tradition. Thus, rooms of silence reflect a number of important aspects of the state of Dutch Prot-estant churches at the beginning of the third millennium: traditional churches designed for massive services seem to have been replaced, though only partly, by smaller rooms which are directed towards an



individual experience, in which strictly Christian imagery has often made way for a more diverse form of spiritual communication. In many instances, attempts are being made to overcome the boundaries between different denominations present in Dutch multicultural society.

6. Conclusion

After centuries of traditionalist forms and designs, the beginning of the twentieth century brought a series of radical changes to the layout and design of Dutch Protestant church buildings. Exuberant expressionism was embodied in the architecture of the Amsterdam School, which became popular especially in the Reformed Churches in the Nether-lands. From the 1930s onwards, the mood for renewal also affected the way in which the churches were furnished, with arrangements moving away from the traditional emphasis on the pulpit. The insights of the Liturgical Movement were to dominate from the 1930s onwards, at first only in small circles of liturgists and then in much wider sections throughout the Netherlands. The sacrament of the Holy Supper was strongly emphasised by making the Communion table the central focus of a slightly raised liturgical podium called the ‘liturgical centre’. In the 1960s and 1970s, architects and liturgists increasingly searched for a sense of community by propagating a more active role for the people in churches that were conceived wholly as ‘liturgical space’. Adjacent bars and lounges were built where people could socialise after the service and, in the context of sharply decreasing attendance at church services during the 1960s, churches also tried to reach out to the wider world in other ways. In the 1970s, the so-called ‘ecclesiastical centres’ became rather popular, multifunctional complexes which only served as churches on Sunday mornings. However, this tendency of world-directedness was short-lived as many people missed the touch of the sacred in these churches-cum-social centres. Since the 1980s a renewed pursuit of sac-rality has become apparent, with churches increasingly manifesting themselves as such in the landscape. During recent decades, however, many churches in the Netherlands have become redundant as a result of ongoing secularisation. While some churches have been preserved through putting them to cultural use, many others have simply been abandoned to the laws of the market.


'Between Word and Sacrament'

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