By Rafe Calder
Deventer sits on the IJssel river in the east of the Netherlands. For a few centuries it was a place where goods were weighed, taxed and sold at fairs, and the evidence is still standing in the middle of town.
The Brink and its weigh house
The tourism body Visit Hansa Holland says the city got the right to hold annual fairs in 1344, and from 1386 there were five a year. Traders came to the Brink, the central square, to sell. The weigh house there, Museum De Waag, is described as one of the oldest weighing buildings in the Netherlands. In the nineteenth century the weighing function ended. The building became a drawing school and then, for a while, a telegraph station. In 1915 it became a museum.
Old stones
At the corner of the Sandrasteeg stands De Proosdij, which the tourism body calls fairly widely acknowledged as the oldest still habitable stone civilian house in the Netherlands. The roof structure dates to around 1130. Before it was a house it was a gatehouse, and the oldest stone part is “possibly considerably older”. The page adds a sensible warning: stones have no year rings, so they are harder to date. Our reading: treat 1130 as the age of the roof, not the age of the walls.
The Lebuinuskerk, the large church near the centre, is described as originally Romanesque, with a crypt and wall and vault paintings from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The tourism body says its central tower was once flanked by four smaller ones, largely demolished in 1454, and that the foundation stone of the present tower was laid in the summer of 1459. The Bergkerk, on an old river dune, was built in 1198 to 1209 as a Romanesque cross basilica.
The cake
Deventer koek is a long, narrow, dense spiced cake, served in thin slices with butter. The regional tourism body, Visit Hansa Holland, says it has been baked in the town for more than 400 years.
The Dickens weekend
Every December the Bergkwartier changes century. The festival’s own site says that more than 950 characters from the books of Charles Dickens come to life there, and that the festival began in 1991. Entry is timed. Dates, tickets and entry rules change from year to year, so check the festival’s own site (dickensfestijn.nl/en) before you plan.
Quick answers
What is Deventer koek? According to Tellerrand-Stories, a long, narrow honey-and-rye spice cake with no egg or dairy, served in thin slices with butter.
When is the Dickens Festival in Deventer? Every December, in the Bergkwartier. The festival’s own site (dickensfestijn.nl/en) carries the current dates, tickets and entry rules.
How old is the Deventer Brink fair tradition? According to Visit Hansa Holland, the city received the right to hold annual fairs in 1344, with five a year from 1386.
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Roam first. Shop later.