Gezicht op Vlaardingen, gezien vanaf de Kortedijk 1748 - 1775

This is Jan Caspar Philips's etching of Vlaardingen, created around the mid-18th century. Here, the church tower punctuates the skyline, a silent sentinel. Historically, such towers weren't merely architectural; they were potent symbols. Consider the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, or the minarets in Islamic architecture, all striving towards the heavens. The impulse to build upwards, to bridge the earthly and divine, speaks to a deeply rooted human aspiration, a desire to transcend our mortal coil. The tower in Vlaardingen echoes this, yet it's been reshaped by the Reformation. No longer just a symbol of religious power, it becomes a marker of civic identity. A proud emblem rising above a community, a beacon for sailors returning home, it represents the intersection of spiritual and secular life. Such forms recur, each time remolded, carrying forward the echoes of ages past.