Fort Church - Willemstad, Curacao - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

Per the Fortkerk's (or Fort Church's) own website, in broken English:

"The Church:

Located within Fort Amsterdam within the capital city of Willemstad on the east side of the Saint Anna Bay, the Fort Church (or "Fortkerk" in Dutch) dates back to 1769. It has sturdy walls that were built to withstand any attack by naval battle ships, as evidenced by a cannonball still lodged in one of its exterior walls and left there all these centuries as a reminder of the attack by the British in 1804 when the Fort was shelled.

In 1635, following the takeover of Curacao from the Spanish and the British by the Dutch West Indies Company, the new Governor Van Wallbeeck arranged for the arrival of the first preacher on the island, Ds. Fredericus Vitteus. At the time, Curacao was a military colony and Ds. Vitteus was -- understandably -- a garrison preacher. From these beginnings, the Reformed Church of the Antilles was formed -- later named the 'Hervormde Kerk', from which the origins of the United Protestant Church of Curacao sprung in 1824. The Fortkerk the second oldest Reformed Church in the Western Hemisphere, after the 1624 Reformed Church of New York (which was at that time still known as "Nieuw Amsterdam").

Old maps indicate that -- as early as 1707 -- a small church was present in Fort Amsterdam, right at the entrance of Curacao's natural harbour. Certainly, in 1742, one existed with a similarly monumental sweep of stairs to those seen today, but it is likely the first meetings of the United Protestant Church of Curacao were held in a storage room of the Fort.

Given the ongoing possibility of lengthy sieges, it was necessary to build rainwater reserves within the Fort, and one of these cisterns dating back to 1742 still exists behind the stair door to the Museum, which from 1821 formed the old vestry. The back door of the museum leads to 'Parapet the Cat', where a cannon was previously situated.

The present-day Fortchurch in historic Fort Amsterdam is the oldest church still in daily use on Curacao. Construction took place between 1767 and 1771 and the facade bears the date 1769. Construction cost 5,500 pesos (approximately 11,000 guilders), but nothing is known of the architect (although both Hendrik de Hamer and Frederik Staal were closely involved in the work). The vicarage stood next to the church on the spot that is currently the seat of the Government.

The Fortchurch is not large (20.5 X 13.25 m) but is particularly high, with the tallest point of the tower reaching 16 meters above ground level. Given the small area of space available within the Fort, careful planning had to be done for the way it would be used. The high ceilings also doubled as an effective area in which to dry and store ship sails, which were hoisted up by pulley.

The Church Cupola (as depicted on the stamp of this waymark):

The original tower of the Church was octagonal and was replaced by a round one in 1903, as marked on its facade. It was designed by Mr. A.W. Statius Muller, the Head of the Building Department. The original clockwork in the tower dates from 1788 and was a gift from Captain Dirk van der Meer. During the extensive restoration of the church in 1991, this clock and its five dials in the tower and ceiling were overhauled by Mr. Henk W. Vos van Zalingen. However, the intricate mechanical clockwork was particularly expensive to maintain, and in 1994 a new computerized clockwork was obtained from Japan. The original mechanical workings are on exhibit in the Museum, as there are only two such examples in the entire world.

Renovation Efforts:

After various renovations done in earlier years, the Church had to temporarily close in late 1988 due to significant deterioration. On February 1st, 1990, a massive restoration project began.

The total cost of the restoration work amounted to some 2.5 million Antillian Guilders (roughly $1.4 million US Dollars), of which 600,000 NAfl was raised locally by church members and other parties in Curacao. The remainder was paid by the 'Meerjarenplan Nederlandse Antillen' -- an aid plan financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Many improvements were made during the course of this major undertaking, including those to the cellars. The vestry was also transformed into a Museum detailing the history and culture of Protestantism in Curacao from 1643. Four glass display areas were donated by the Prins Bernhard Cultural Fund.

The church finally re-opened on October 27th, 1991."

-=-=-=-=-

This stamp was issued by the Netherlands Antilles on January 9, 1980 as a set of 3 stamps issued in recognition of the church's 210th anniversary that prior year (1979). The Netherlands Antilles actually dissolved in 2010, so now Curacao is actually a separate country.

Although this particular stamp only depicts the church's cupola (with the other 2 in the series depicting other -- interior -- items), this waymark's gallery includes several pictures of the entire church... as well as some older snapshots taken by the waymark's poster during the actual renovation efforts being mentioned in the article above.

More information about this stamp can be found on the following Collectors Portal webpage.

Stamp Issuing Country: Netherlands Antilles (country is now dissolved, now it's just "Curacao") Date of Issue: 1980-01-09 Denomination: 100 ¢ - Netherlands Antillean cent Color: multicolor Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for this category, you must visit the actual site of the waymark. Post at least one photo that you personally took of the site if at all possible. If you cannot provide a photo for some reason, your visit will still be welcome.

You do NOT need to be a stamp collector to visit the waymark site, nor do you have to provide a photo of the stamp. Just having a copy of the stamp in question, however, is not sufficient; you must personally visit the site.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   02/17/2019 petendot visited it 12/23/2018 Raven visited it

View all visits/logs