In the old centre of Utrecht the work on the middle nave of the 750 year old Dom Church is slowly progressing. Twenty kilometers of iron tubes with a total weight of 260,000 kilos will form the largest scaffolding construction in Europe. It will be on display only this Summer. The city government set up a special website on the project, titled 'Back from being blown away', referring to the fact that the heart of the church was destroyed by a tornado in 1674.
It's interesting that there was a time lap of 30 years between the laying of the first foundation stone of the Dom Church and the actual start of the building. The nave of the Church was built in 30 years. The building of the tower took (without breaks) 30 years as well. And the second restoration of the tower also took 30 years. The current rebuilding of the middle nave of the church with tubes takes 30 days. When it's finished on 11 June, it's 330 years ago that the church and the tower were separated.
A visual artist is keeping track of the progress. Every day at the same time he takes four pictures at fixed locations. One of these is the top of the Dom tower, so he has to climb the stairs daily, which is surely good for his condition. He keeps a daily photolog, including little portraits of people he meets on the Dom Square.
So those pictures that he takes from way up above the nave is from the tower??? Wow. That is really high.
Posted by: jonah | June 01, 2004 at 22:50