Saint Urban's Church

The Sint Urbanus church of Cuypers has a history of more than a century and a half and is indispensable in the village community of Ouderkerk. The tower on the northwest side of the church, with its night-lit clock and its sonorous bells, is a magnificent beacon of the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. In 2017 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of our beautiful church for a year.

Although the history of the Urbanus faith community dates back to probably before 1200 and must have been the oldest church in Amstelland in Ouderkerk, the current church building is a creation from the second half of the nineteenth century. After the reintroduction of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands in 1853, the Catholics showed a new impetus. This was reflected, among other things, in the many new churches that were built at that time. In Ouderkerk, the Waterstaatskerk of the twenties turned out to be far too small and was replaced in the sixties by a neo-Gothic church designed by Petrus (Pierre) J.H. Cuypers. This architect, originally from Limburg, has gained fame for the construction of dozens of new monumental churches and the restoration of dozens of churches with a rich history. His field of work consisted mainly of the dioceses of Roermond, 's-Hertogenbosch and Haarlem and he also worked for a number of years in Belgium and Germany. Moreover, Cuypers designed many parishes, town halls, houses and then also in a somewhat Renaissance style the Rijksmuseum and the Central Station in Amsterdam.

Cuypers introduced a new style of building in the Netherlands. In his younger years he was rather impressed by the high and late medieval French and Rhenish Gothic. He was also taught this during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Furthermore, Cuypers came into contact with the French builder Viollet-le-Duc in Paris and Cuypers developed his 'own' style of neo-Gothic building.

The Sint Urbanus van Ouderkerk was built in the years 1865-1867. The building is a three-aisled brick cross church with traditionally the chancel facing east. The church measures 39 meters in length and 25 meters in the width of the transept. On either side of the nave, eight sandstone columns support four bays. The ceiling of the nave and transept consists of a wooden barrel vault, which rises up to 16 meters above the floor area. On the north-eastern side of the church is the former Poor Office, which now, after a complete renovation, serves as a Marian chapel. On the southeastern side is the sacristy which is connected to the presbytery (also designed by Cuypers) via a passage. The west-facing porch is separated from the rest of the church by a wooden wall. Above it is the choir loft with the renowned Vollebregt organ, which was completely restored in 2006. The choir is accessible via a spiral staircase in the tower.

Entirely in Gothic style, there is also a rosette window high above the main entrance of the church. In the church one can see Saint Caecilia, patroness of the musicians, in this window. She is seated behind a medieval pipe organ and supports the choir and the Vollebregt organ with her own light keys.

On the other side of the church, the light from outside also plays its own neo-Gothic game. Seven stained glass windows by glazier Frans Nicolas (as well as Cuypers from Roermond), which were installed a few years after the consecration of the church, are the crowning glory of the chancel. The windows colorfully depict the secrets of the Rosary and have been completely restored.

Not very striking, but certainly of a stilling beauty are the somewhat small stained glass windows in the aisles and in the former baptistery. In each window a scene from both the Old and New Testaments is depicted and the scenes faithfully express that Christianity cannot be understood without its Jewish roots.

Although many embellishments to the church were still made under the dynamic building pastor Rijp (1858-1870), the ubiquitous tile panels on the side walls are undoubtedly of a later date; they probably date from the earliest beginning of the twentieth century and are designed by Jos Cuypers, Pierre's son. In addition to the Stations of the Cross, which are flanked by saints and Old Testament prophets, four key moments from the gospel are depicted around the two confessionals in the church. The tableaux represent a special ceramic Dutch art expression, of which little has been preserved in churches to date.

As a national monument, the church belongs to the 'protected village view'. For this reason, the provincial government has also allocated very substantial sums of money for the restoration of the church. Until 2009/2010, the parish could count on an amount of more than € 1,500,000. However, this was nowhere near enough to preserve the church and tower for the future. That is why financial resources will also have to be obtained by other means. To provide this, the Urbanus Ouderkerk aan de Amstel Foundation was founded on 20 January 2004.

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