Historic Cities · Netherlands

Delft through the ages

Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is a part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area and the Randstad.

1660 · vermeer's quiet canals

Delft in 1660

Vermeer's Delft

This walk records Delft six years after the great gunpowder explosion, a compact town of potters, brewers and cloth-workers rebuilding solidly after 1654. You will move from the Schie harbour into the Market beneath the Nieuwe Kerk spire, through tree‑lined canals and streets of smoking kilns, past the leaning tower of the Oude Kerk and the quiet Prinsenhof courtyards that know the House of Orange.

Delft in 1660 reads as a low, red‑tiled town pierced by two tall church towers; the Nieuwe Kerk’s spire dominates the broad Markt while the Oude Kerk leans above the narrow canals. Brick gables and classical stone facades sit close to tree‑lined waterways, small wooden quays and clustered potteries whose chimneys and kilns add a thin column of smoke. Streets are narrow and cobbled, the harbour busy with hoys and small merchant ships under cool northern light.

The route: 16 streets, squares and views

View from the Schie → Rotterdamse Poort → Koornmarkt Quay → Wijnhaven Quay → Voorstraat Potteries → Nieuwe Delft → Oude Delft Canal → Paardenmarkt → The Markt → Nieuwe Kerk Spire → …

Step inside, 9 interiors

Brewer's Copper-Hung Hall · Delftware Painting Room · Tiled Burgher Kitchen · Guild of St Luke Meeting Room · Choir around William's Tomb · Aldermen's Council Chamber · Nave under the Leaning Tower · Water Board Council Chamber · Great Stone Chamber

Explore Delft in 1660 →25 scenes · 375 Clan Coins

Planned from the Wikipedia record: Delft.

From the archive

Delft on paper: the old town as it was mapped.

A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.