"Simple but well-kept Protestant church"

Nicolas Alvarez Acebal (Tortilla Hollandaise)

"What fantastic acoustics this church has. We sang there with the choir. Very nice. The service was also beautiful. The organist was excellent, but he was very present during the congregational singing. Too much interlude. The church was clean. The parking was a downside."

Jeanet van Es

"It was a bit difficult to find a so-called Grote Kerk in Assen, usually also the oldest church in a municipality. Research revealed the Kloosterkerk, which, together with its predecessors, is already mentioned in the 8th and/or 9th century. See a review of it elsewhere. It also includes the takeover after the Reformation by the Dutch Reformed Church. They held church there for a long time, but eventually moved to their own church due to lack of space. And that became the Jozefkerk, previously also called the Grote Kerk. The Jozefkerk is in fact, albeit a reformed, continuation of the 'oldest' Kloosterkerk. The Dutch Reformed Church of Assen has been holding church since the beginning of the 17th century in the so-called Kloosterkerk, Mariakerk or Abdijkerk, the former place of worship of the disappeared Mariencamp monastery on the Brink, at the time popularly called 'De Oude Kerk'. Over the years, the municipality continued to grow, so that at some point the Abdijkerk became too small. After the Abbey Church had been enlarged several times in the 18th century, work actually started in 1840 on the construction of a new, larger church, the Grote Kerk. After four years, the Reformed Church had the finances for the new church, which had been budgeted at f 44,000, in order. The Classicist building was designed by chief engineer C.J. Spaan of Waterstaat and Public Works. The design of the church is therefore what we now call a “Waterstaat church”, built in the so-called waterstaat style. These churches are characterised by the pursuit of symmetry, the use of arched windows of uncoloured glass, a column front, pilasters, a tower and white plastered interior walls. The official opening of the “Grote Kerk” took place on 30 April 1848. However, on 13 June 1910, disaster struck: during a heavy storm, the tower of the church was struck by lightning. The fire that followed was difficult to fight because of the great height. The precious Van Dam organ suffered water damage. The tower was rebuilt but became larger than the original tower and the front of the church was also adapted. The church and tower have been renovated several times over the past century. The last time was in 2008. The church can be visited by interested parties, see the website of the church, the Protestant community or the VVV, subject Open House."

Leo J.F. de Ruiter