the original scultures from the 16th century are long gone, the present ones are from the 19th century
ancesters unknown
a first view of the buttresses and the figures sitting on it. The gutter is a few meters higher
a modern angel in jeans and on the phone. The phone has a direct line with Heaven
guides on the platform provide extra information
riding a huge dog
behold, this clearly is an armed devil
for unknown reasons his hands are tied
one of the winged waterspouts
The town's most famous citizen was
Hieronymus
Bosch who, as a young boy, must have witnessed the big fire of 1463. Some pundits speculate this was a great inspiration for
his future work.
The gothic
Sint Janskathedraal dominates the city's skyline. Work started in 1370 and was finally completed
in 1529. There are indications that Hieronymus Bosch helped create some of the sculptures.
In that time large structures
needed double
flying buttresses to lead the lateral forces away from the high walls. The St Jan has 16 of them, and
on each one sit 6 creatures that provide weight on the butresses.
All 96 sculptures look up to heaven.
As part of the 2016
Jheronimus
Bosch 500 year a large scaffolding was build that let visitors climb to the gutter at 24 m height for an up-close
view of the strange monsters..
We did the "miraculous climb" in August 2016 and looked the monsters right in the eye. They did
not blink..
part of the Sint Jan Cathedraal seen from the south
the temporary scaffolding has a large platform
from above you have a nice view over den Bosch
he plays the flute
he seems to be unhappy. Understandable after 500 years
