The famous Dutch city of Delft is renowned for its charming canals and the quaint old houses that reflect in them, but mention of its name immediately conjures up the unique blue and white china the city is so famous for – so much so that it has been dubbed the Faenza of Holland. The art of ceramic-making in Delft goes back many centuries: in the 17th century at least 30 factories were known to be in existence.

This art however had reached Holland much earlier when a group of Italian craftsmen settled in Holland at the beginning of the 16th century and opened up ceramic tile workshops. As soon as their businesses started to prosper, they took on Dutch names and founded schools to perpetuate their craft. Wall tiles and quaint ceramic stoves as well as tableware and decorative pieces were adorned with the famous Delft blue colouring.

The period of greatest splendour was reached in the 18th Century, although in the late 1700s, when printed English porcelain had started competing with the hand painted Delft china, numerous factories were forced to close down. Then in 1876 two enterprising businessmen revived the declining china industry by setting up a factory (thereafter known as the Royal Delft Blue Factory) on a mass production basis. Delft is also the birthplace of two great men: Hugo de Groote (or Hugo Grotius) who was well-known as a jurist, diplomat, philosopher, and poet, and Jan Vermeer whose paintings perfectly reflect the city’s peaceful charm.

The center of the city is the marketplace, known as the Markt, which also serves as a delightful setting for summer carillon concerts. On this square rises the Nieuwe Kerk, a Protestant church originally built of wood, but later rebuilt in stone between 1384 and 1496.

Alongside the church stands a lovely Gothic bell tower. 109 meters tall; the tower is rectangular at the base and octagonal at the top. The aisles of the church and the well-lit nave, set off by round columns, have wooden vaulting. Inside is the tomb of the father of the Dutch nation, William of Orange, known as William the Silent, who was the first President of the United Provinces of the Netherlands in the 16th century and leader in the struggle against Spanish domination. He was killed on July 10, 1584 by an assassin in the pay of the Duke of Alba. The monument, carved in Italian marble and Dinant stone, was executed by Hendrick de Keyser. At the feet of the reclining effigy figure is a sculpture of the prince’s faithful dog who let himself starve to death when his master died. Beneath the sarcophagus is an opening leading to the crypt which contains the remains of forty odd members of the Orange-Nassau dynasty.

An Historic City walk in Delft can covers the most historic part of Delft and visits the following locaties in Delft:
• New Church with Royal catacombs
• Marketplace
• City Hall
• Butter House
• Meat Hall
• Fish stalls
• Weighing House
• The old prison
• Waterboard House of Delfland
• Old Church (Piet Hein, Maarten Tromp, Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek)
• The Princes Court (Prinsenhof – where Willem van Oranje was assasinated by Balthazar Gerards)
• Sint Lucasgilde (Johannes Vermeer Center)

among many other places like the Medieval East Gate and old Alms Houses. A Tour of Royal Delft through it’s Museum and Factory can be arranged as well as unique Workshops were you can paint your own Plate, Vase, or Tile! More information can be found via http://www.royaldelft.com/home_en

Delft derives its name from the Dutch word ‘delven’ or digging, a trait common to most of the low lands. Digging canals became a necessity for the people who were surrounded by water. Canals were used to channel rain water away, the turf was used to raise the land for tilling and planting, and they were a way to transport goods by boat.

Delft was granted citizenship in 1246 by the Count William II and it would grow for the next hundred years. In 1350 a major canal, the Schie, was constructed that connected Rotterdam to the Hague via Delft. This was an important waterway and it also became part of the defensive perimeter of the city. By 1355 Delft had established its boundaries and they would remain that way until the 19th century.

The Old Church was started in 1250, the New Church in 1383. Except for two major disasters (the great fire of 1536 and the explosion of the gun powder storage building in 1654, both of which destroyed hundreds of home and people’s lives), the city prospered. During the early years of the 17th century, Delft was a center of painting, arts, crafts and science. The Dutch East India Company, the large trading company with ships going to the Indies, had established one of their offices and warehouses in Delft. Spices, coffee, tea and Chinese porcelain now found their way to Delft.