Toren van de Grote of Johannes de Doperkerk te Wijk bij Duurstede 1892

Curator: The tower, looming there, it almost feels like a memory more than a structure. Don't you think? Editor: Absolutely. "Toren van de Grote of Johannes de Doperkerk te Wijk bij Duurstede," it’s listed, anonymously, under Monumentenzorg from 1892. A straightforward, no-nonsense name for such an ethereal vision. That sepia tone feels less like an artistic choice and more like the building itself is aging before our eyes. What strikes you first? Curator: It’s the sheer scale! It feels both massive and delicate, a paradox of weight and grace. Those tiny, tree-like shrubs down below almost disappear, and the tower fades into the sky as though dreaming it's a path towards heaven...it's melancholic and grand! Editor: I'm drawn to the detail in the brickwork—the repeating patterns, the way the arches support that towering height. Consider the labor: brick by brick, stone by stone, humans hauling, carving, constructing. This wasn’t divinely ordained, you know; it was built by hands. The muted colors tell a history of physical production, the exploitation and collective spirit of craft embedded in architecture. Curator: True. There's beauty to be found in the mechanics, but also beauty in the mystery it evokes for me. Its incomplete top suggests a broken promise or unfinished story—which makes me imagine its history. Wars it may have seen and generations that sheltered below it, you know. Editor: That open top speaks volumes. Construction halted in the 16th century—materials redirected towards fortification efforts, not skyward ambitions. It embodies the economics of faith and function. Labor stopped, yet the structure remains; a powerful example of practical trade-offs. Curator: Ah, and now it makes more sense… It is a shame its dream ended that way but, thinking about it, there’s another kind of dream in that very story it now carries on it... Thanks for putting things in perspective. Editor: Precisely. Let's always consider the building blocks as much as the heavens they point towards.