From the east side of the Markt either Hinthamerstraat or Kerkstraat will bring you to St Janskathedraal (R.C.), the finest medieval church in the Netherlands. Originally Romanesque (1280- 1312), the church was given its present Gothic form between 1380 and 1530. It is 115m/377ft long by 62m/203ft wide, making it the largest church in the Netherlands.
The choir was built in the early 15th century, the transept about 1450. The Romanesque tower has a Gothic spire. Work on the church was interrupted by the iconoclastic movement, so that its building was spread over a century and a half. Owing to shortage of money, however, it was left unfinished: some of the buttresses near the west doorway, for example, are not properly finished. In 1529 a wooden tower 85m/280ft high was built over the crossing, but this was destroyed by lightning in 1584 and was not rebuilt; it was replaced instead by a raised dome, on top of which is a large painted eye, a symbol of the Trinity.
The outside of the choir is richly articulated by flying buttresses topped by small medieval figures: no other church in the Netherlands is so richly ornamented. Above the windows, all round the church, are reliefs of scenes from the early life of Christ. One of the builders left his own monument on the north side of the church - the "pease soup man", depicted overturning the pot of pease soup brought by his wife for his dinner. Other builders are known only from the masons' marks on columns. A curious feature, perhaps by another mason demonstrating his skill, is the twisted canopy at the east end of the nave, the tip of which is nevertheless directly over the saint's head.
Round the choir of St Janskathedraal is a ring of seven chapels (1480-96). Both the exterior and the interior of the church were richly decorated with medieval sculpture and stained glass. In spite of the destruction of images during the Reformation some remains of this work have been preserved, like the image (probably 13th century) of Zoete Lieve Vrouwe van Den Bosch (Our Sweet Lady of Den Bosch) in the Lady Chapel (1268). On the columns in the nave and choir are numerous figures of saints. On the south doorway (St John's Doorway) are reliefs of scenes from the life of John the Baptist, and on the south side of the nave and aisles are figures of male saints; while on the north doorway (Doorway of Our Lady) are figures of Mary and the wise and foolish virgins, with figures of female saints on the north side of the nave and aisles.
The choir of St Janskathedraal has stalls of 1480 which rank as the finest of their kind in the Netherlands and a rear choir screen with carved wooden reliefs in High Renaissance style. In the choir can be seen the tomb of Sir James Ferguson (d. 1705), commander of the Scottish Brigade under Marlborough. In the ambulatory (on right) is a wall painting of 1444 and in the first chapel on the left is a 15th century winged altar.
Beside the organ at St Janskathedraal is the baptistery, with a fine copper font by Aert van Tricht (1492). The font basin is decorated with figures of cripples waiting to receive the water of life.
By the baptistery is an image by Abraham Bloemaert of Christ and the Virgin interceding for mankind. At the top of the oak organ-case is a clock which displays a series of scenes from a roll of pictures, changing every minute.
Among the treasures in the spacious interior of the St Janskathedraal (Cathedral) are the carved Renaissance pulpit by C. Bloemaert (1566-70) and the large organ (1617-35).
The restoration of the Cathedral, which had been going on for some 125 years, was completed in 1985. During this work a number of new features were added, including the liturgical center under the dome and concrete (rather than lead) settings for the stained glass windows on the south side.
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