Pieterskerk

The Pieterskerk in Leiden reached its current dimensions in the fifteenth century. The architectural style of the church is Late Gothic but its origin is much older.

Around 1100, the Counts of Holland, who had a residence in Leiden, had a chapel in the middle of the nave of the current Pieterskerk. The chapel was renovated in 1121, after which bishop Godebald from Utrecht consecrated it anew. Since no depictions of the chapel have been preserved, its exact appearance remains a mystery. It was most likely Romanesque in style.
The purposes of the church changed in 1268. The Counts'chapel becama a parish church. Due to the growth of the Leiden population, the church was replaced by a larger building around 1300. Fifty years later, this church had an imposing tower named 'King of the Sea', which had been built in stages and was ultimately more than 110 meters tall including the ca. 35 meter wooden spire. It was so tall that captains at sea used the tower as a point of reference.
The church may be from the Middle Ages but the windows are not. After the Reformation (1572), the original stained glass windows fell into disrepair. When a ship filled with gunpowder exploded on the Rapenburg close by in 1807, nothing remained of the windows. The current windows date from the nineteenth century, with the exception of the stained glass window behind the choir, which is from 1940. It was constructed by George Rüter in memory of Filips van Marnix of St. Aldegonde. In the seventeenth century, small houses were built against the church, probably in accordance with a plan by Arent van 's Gravensande. They have only been preserved on the side of the choir.