Roermond

After arriving back from our cycling trip – it was time to see the surrounds of Maaike’s Southern part of The Netherlands. First stop was Roermond which is the principal city in the area. Now, historically (and currently I suppose) the Northern part of The Netherlands was protestant – and the Southern part Catholic. Certainly the picturesque city was full of statues. Here’s a model of the city…

In the city there were lots of wells. Each well had its own protecting statue – I suppose the bigger the statue the more prosperous the area..?!

We also went into the Munsterkerk – which was a stunning building built (or started at least) in 1410.

And it also had one of the most gruesome statues of Christ that I have ever seen.

And a video of the inside of the cathedral.

And one of the more… feminine? statues of Mary that I have ever seen (not in the Cathedral)

We also visited a graveyard nearby. This was quite an interesting place – it was split into sections for Catholics, Jews, Protestants and Non religious. Also, as it’s such a desirable place to be buried – you basically rent space (20 years at a pop I think). You can also buy a plot if you’re rich enough. Quite odd – probably happens in other places – but I for one haven’t seen that before.

There’s also a beautiful example of marriage cross-religious boundaries. I’ve forgotten the lineage of the people, but presumably important and rich – and one a Catholic and the other a Protestant. They couldn’t get buried in the same part of the cemetery, but they did get buried one on either side of the wall – and shook hands over the top. Lovely.