Have you ever walked through the heart of our city? Chances are you came across one of our most striking cityscapes: the Oldehove. The leaning tower towers proudly above the houses, and it can be easily admired from the square. But why is this tower actually leaning so much?
Back in time
The Oldehove owes its name to the small village that was situated on this spot on the Middelzee. A small church already stood on top of the terp around the year 1000. The village of Oldehove grew, as did the terp villages next to it. In 1435, the villages of Oldehove, Nijehove, and Hoek merged to form Leeuwarden, and the city was granted city rights. The church – the St. Vitus Church – had already been expanded several times. With the arrival of the city, a tall tower was also required. Taller than the Dom in Utrecht and the Martini Tower in Groningen.
Crooked, skew, crookedest
And so, on May 28, 1529, the design by master builder Jacob van Aaken was selected, and construction began on the new, imposing church. First the tower, which was to be built next to the existing St. Vitus Church, then a new cathedral to be connected to the tower. Unfortunately, things did not go smoothly: the tower began to lean during construction. Attempts were made to continue masonry vertically on the crooked base—twice, in fact—but without success. The tower subsided even further. It now stood not only leaning but also had a curvature. When the tower reached a height of 30 meters, master builder Jacob van Aaken died from the effects of 'chagrin', possibly depression. Master builder Cornelis Frederiks took over, until construction of the tower was halted in 1533.
Proud tower
And so the tower, the Oldehove, stood for a time next to the St. Vitus Church, which was falling increasingly into disrepair. In 1566, the church fell victim to the Iconoclasm. In 1576, during the Eighty Years' War, the church was damaged during a violent storm. Due to the persistent violence of war, the church could not be restored, which led to its partial demolition in 1595. Because the nobility used to be buried inside the church, and the common people outside, only the church walls remained standing to clearly mark the separation. The church eventually disappeared completely in 1706. And so, only the proud, leaning tower remained on the square.
Traces of the past
The Oldehoofsterkerkhof is filled with tile panels: the history of Leeuwarden is carved in stone here. As you walk across the square, you come across, for example, a control card from the Elfstedentocht, but also an advertisement from manufacturer Hooghiemstra from 1898, who had started his briquette factory on the Willemskade four years earlier. And did you know that the outlines of the Sint Vitus Church are still visible? Hidden among the tile panels are 24 gravestones and several rows of small fountains. The fountains, which appear every fifteen minutes in the summer and turn the bricks of the square dark red, represent where the old Sint Vitus Church once stood. The gravestones show where the new cathedral was supposed to be built.
Folktales
According to an old folk tale, the mound and tower owe their name to an old woman. She was sitting quietly knitting on the beach of the old Middelzee, on the mound. To her surprise, a tower came drifting ashore on a small piece of land. The woman found the tower beautiful and called out, “Ho âlde, ho!” She was overjoyed when the tower docked at the mound.
Symbol of Leeuwarden
The people of Leeuwarden always have a skeptical word ready about their city. Folk singer Piter Wilkens wrote the *Liwwadder Blues*, which the stubborn inhabitants of Leeuwarden are all too happy to quote: “Het het nooit wat weest, en et zal nooit wat wurde, als't in Liwwadden geboren bist, kest et wel skudde”. Roughly speaking, it means that if you were born in Leeuwarden, you can forget about it; it will never amount to anything! But have you ever heard those same stubborn Leeuwarders talk about the Oldehove? “A'k de Oldehove niet siën ken, dan foël ik my onwennich,” they say somewhat wistfully in the city dialect: if I cannot see the Oldehove, I feel uneasy. So, although the people of Leeuwarden do not seem so positive at first glance, they wouldn't trade their city for anything in the world.
There is much more to learn about the Oldehove. From the restoration of the tower to the centuries-old finds during the excavation of this mound, from the bells to the remarkable clockwork; the tower keepers of the Oldehove can tell you all about it.
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