Sleeping Smof

Nijmegen: behind the church.

Many dutch cities have managed to preserve the core of their old towns around their tall churches made of red bricks, and Nijmegen is no exception. The biggest church's  original name as a catholic worship place was "St Steven" (st Stephen), but when its people converted to protestantism, they very originally decided to rename it "Grote Kerk" (the big church.)


I've personally decided to call it "The Frankenstein Church", because whoever built, rebuilt, and added to it obviously didn't care much about keeping the whole coherent. So there's white, cathedralish looking parts, red bricks, dark grey stones... It is certainly original and interresting historically speaking, but not the prettiest building ever. In addition to that, the inside, duly voided of any decorations, feels huge, stern, and empty (but I probably only feel this way because I'm so used to catholic churches). 


The houses around it are very cute however.  You can walk a few meters there without any signs of modern civilization, just imagining a golden haired little girl selling flowers in the cold air of an autumn morning. 


Ps: Here are some real pictures of the church.