Click to enlarge The river 'Noord' (North), seen from the 'Groothoofd' headland, looking to the north." View on Dordrecht from the opposite bank by Cuyp (1650), Frick collection, NY. The outer gate of 'Large Head'. The Virgin. The sign below reads: 'Pax civium et concordia tutissime urbem muniunt' which means to convey that a town's best protection is provided by mutual peace and unanimity of its citizens, and 'Custos esto mihi Deus Jehova', saying: 'Lord Jehova be thou my Keeper'. Click to enlarge

When our company was complete, the coffee finished and all bills had been paid, we set out, eventually, for our sight-seeing tour of Dordrecht. Outside there was a constant drizzle that never succeeded in grading itself up to a formal shower, though the haze it produced did much to deaden the colours of river and town. From the river, stretching far and wide in three directions, we turned round to observe the gate. This had yet been there for ages when in the 17th century the town council had it adorned with a baroque front, made by Gillis Huppe, a stonemason from Liège. The stone commemorates the fact that the town had never been 'taken' by its successive enemies, - neither by the 'Hooks' in the 'Hooks and Cods War' of the 14th and 15th centuries, nor by the Spaniards in the 16th and 17th centuries - and thus could still proudly emblematize a virgin on its shield. Passing under the gate Emile Havers, our personal guide for the day, pointed out the authentic vault of the gothic archway, dating from medieval times. Behind the gate one confronts the first stretch of the Old Harbour lined on both sides by houses old and new, rising out of the water. Passing by the bridge to the left, that spans the harbour's connection with the river, one enters Wine Street, where the stately dwellings of the former wine merchants are still to be found. Not so long ago, many houses of the inner town seem to have been in decay, if not almost beyond hope of repair. Quite recently, however, the Dutch equivalents of the National Trust, have done much to refurbish monumental buildings and private houses, the overall result being at the moment that the streets indeed are taking on their former lustrous aspect, though between the shining gems of architecture are still lurking the blind and dilapidated remnants of negligence. The pavement in Wine Street still consists of the old blue cobbled stones. In the old days the wooden sledges of the wine haulers bumped over them, now cars come noisily rumbling by to the extent of making conversation impossible. To our amazement Dordrechtian drivers, not incidentally but repeatedly, added to the effect by blowing their horns at us, when they apparently saw us for a bunch of sightseers to be chided by them. The map of the Old Harbour shows a side-street connecting it with Wine Street. There, at the quay, you can see a tall crane by which the wine casks were hoisted out of the ships. This crane was driven by a treadmill powered by children who consequentially were called 'crane kids', and not for them having elegant long necks. In Wine Street, as well as in many other streets and places, the façades of houses are often decorated with ornamental stones which tell something about the occupation or familial characteristics of their former owners. A number of these are presented on the next page, Ornamental stones.

Contents
Welcome
Introduction    The Gate    Ornamental stones    The Court    Epilogue

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