History

It was from this tower that scholars Simon Stevin and Jan Cornets de Groot (father of legal scholar Hugo) conducted their famous drop tests. Using two lead balls - one ten times heavier than the other - the scientists demonstrated that heavy and light objects of the same size fall equally fast.

On 6 September 1496, a hundred years after construction of the stone church began, the tower was completed. At the top, they had installed a giant 'apple': the symbol of infinity. However, the tower's existence proved to be anything but infinite, as it was completely destroyed as early as the city fire of 1536.

The spire was replaced by a new one - this time without an 'apple' - and it seemed that the tower was finally finished. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, fate struck again: lightning. In response, the well-known architect Pierre Cuypers designed the current spire in 1872.

Since then, the tower of the New Church has remained intact. While the blackened top suggests that a big fire has raged inside it, nothing could be further from the truth; Bentheimer sandstone was used for this second octagon, which becomes increasingly darker due to weathering (acid rain). There is no point in cleaning it.