Enjoying the sun

This was a nice shot, if you don't have a balcony...

St.Jan

A shot of the church (partly then) the church is so big I couldn't capture it in one shot. The most notable thing of the St. Jan is that it's 'breaths' the centuries.
The stained glass windows are very impressive.

St Jan

On my way to the entrance of the St. Jan, I passed by this little 'pass way'? It's very peaceful and quiet.

Sint Jan

The next stop is the Saint John of Sint Jan. A magnificent church which so much history, you just feel it when you enter the building. This is a picture from the (small) tower.

House

The backside of a house, I like this picture for it's simpleness.

Bikes

I am still visiting Gouda, and post today a picture of a very common site for me/ us who live in Holland, a canal with lots of bikes (not common is the good wheater).

Shop sign

Above the entrance is the 'shop sign' of the tabacco store. An indian with a pipe, smoking must have been once the new thing to do imported from the colonies.

Museum de Monriaan

This picture is of museum de Monriaan. It is a building from 1617 and originated as a grocery store, after that it became a sugar refinery. In the 1700's it became a tabacco store and remained that until in 1965 when it became a museum. The shop's interior from 1680 is still in place. The building leans forward on purpose, to prevent the rain dripping down via the façade.

Amazing, but the wheater is too good to go to a museum!

Old House

Cool old house, I have no special story to tell about it, besides that is looks like a house where it is a pleasure to live.... If you like to live in old town and not having a place to park your car, then that is.

Entrance gate from 1614

Just another street with a house with an entrance gate from 1614..... nothing special really.....

Ceramist

Besides the museum garden is a cermist who makes real interesting art; cities which grow in the air..


He didn't looked too friendly so I took a from the side of the entrance so he couldn't see me.

The sixth brick

This is the sixth brick, I think the theme is bible study. A group of people are reading, one is probably a teacher pointing to the sky and the others are responding.
It indicates one of the changes of the Reformation, people were allowed to learn to read and become individuals, making independent decisions...

Or it simply is a school setting, maybe an orphanage theme, boys and girls are not sitting together..



Located in the museum garden.

Gods Hand

Julie reminded me I promised 6 bricks.... :) Here is the 5th, this brick says 'Gods Mild Hand' it have been created based on a personal religious experience. Or it's a common theme but I don't know actually, I have never seen it before.

Backside of the Lazarus Gate

This little gate is the backside of the Lazarus gate which is the entry to the museum garden. Actually the Lazarus gate has been rebuild on this spot, what you see is the gate which gave entrance to an old man and woman home, which used to be at another spot as well.

I love this decoration of the old days, they did their best to decorate their homes with stuff which is still possible to admire 400 years later. When you enlarge the photo you can see the detail of the work.

Lazerus Gate

At the end of the 16th century a German banker mason (Gregorius Cool) settled in Gouda. He left the city magnificent works, like the city hall you have seen, but also this entry gate, which used to be the entrance to the leprosy house somewhere else in town.


The work displays the biblical story of the poor Lazarus and the rich man. The gate was torn down in 1939 and rebuild at this spot in 1964. I think it is magnificent!

The Whore

It's a Ladies facing brick collection, this brick says 'The Whore' I wonder what type of house it has been part of...

The Faith

This facing brick has as title 'the faith'. Many bricks have a religious nature, the display of personal faith was normal those days. Funny though that the link with nudity was no problem then, now adays sex and religion seem to be two no-combinations... :)

I did some research on facing bricks, there is this group in the Netherlands which preserves these bricks and stimulate to bring them back to their origional state, unfortunately only in Dutch.

Love is the Fundament

This facing brick says 'love is the fundament'.

I wasn't completely correct yesterday, the custum is stil alive... check this posting of Amsterdam.

Facing Bricks

This wall contains facing bricks of houses which have been demolished over time. A pitty that this habbit has been lost, I like the idea to give each house it's own identity..

This facing brick says Swan Castle, as you can see the bricks used to be painted.


In total I have six I want to show you..

Museum Garden

Another ormanment, it's the same-isch. There are also another type of ornaments collected in at the garden, which are the somekind of name plates of the house. In older times they had the habbit of naming a house not with a number but with a theme.. Tomorrow more.