Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA

The Domkerk in Utrecht is one of the most historically significant church buildings in the Netherlands, dedicated to Saint Martin and originally constructed as a Gothic cathedral for the bishop of Utrecht. Building work began in the thirteenth century and stretched across 266 years before stopping in 1520 due to lack of funds. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht was signed in the Chapter House attached to the building, and a year later, following the Reformation, the church passed into Protestant hands. The most dramatic moment in its physical history came in 1674, when a catastrophic storm blew away the entire nave, leaving the choir and the tower standing as two separate structures. The nave was never rebuilt, so the Domkerk today is, in the most literal sense, half a church, a quality that gives it an unusual spatial character found nowhere else in the country. Despite its incomplete form, the interior retains a remarkable accumulation of art spanning medieval Catholic devotional objects, Renaissance and Baroque pieces, and contemporary work by artists the church regularly invites to exhibit. Some of these older items were hidden or removed after the Reformation and only rediscovered during extensive twentieth century restoration work. As a concert venue the Domkerk draws on its exceptional acoustics and centuries of investment in church music. It hosts a regular Saturday afternoon concert series alongside organ recitals and a wider range of classical and contemporary performances. The building is also home to an active Protestant ecumenical community, the Citypastoraat, which keeps liturgy and church music at the centre of its work, meaning the musical life here is woven into ongoing communal practice rather than being purely an add on for visitors.