Zutphen

Zutphen was a Hanseatic town on the IJssel and kept a dense medieval centre with towers, a partial wall and one exceptional survival: the Librije, a chained library built in 1564 in a side chapel of the Walburgiskerk and never dispersed. Books were expensive and libraries chained them to lecterns so they could be read but not removed; almost all such collections were broken up, and this one survives in place with about three hundred and thirty volumes on the original oak reading desks, chains attached, in the room built for them - one of only a handful anywhere in Europe still complete. The Walburgiskerk around it has a Romanesque tower, a copper baptismal font of 1527, a fourteenth-century candelabrum and painted vaults. The town has the Wijnhuistoren, the Drogenapstoren, a wall walk and a good regional museum, and it is far quieter than its neighbours.

History

Around AD 300 a Germanic settlement on low river dunes became the first permanent town here, and Zutphen, at the confluence of the IJssel and Berkel, lasted when many such places were abandoned; its name appears to mean "south fen". In the 11th century it was for some years a royal residence, and it received town rights between 1191 and 1196, after only Utrecht and Deventer, becoming the mother town of several others in Guelders, among them Arnhem, Doetinchem and Harderwijk (Wikipedia, Zutphen).

Highlights

• A chained library of 1564 - about 330 books still attached to the original desks.
• One of a handful in Europe - most such libraries were dispersed centuries ago.
• The Walburgiskerk - Romanesque tower, painted vaults and a fourteenth-century font.
• A medieval town - towers, a partial wall and a dense centre on the IJssel.

When to go

April to October. A day.

What to expect

The library opens on limited hours and only in guided groups. The church closes for services. The town is quiet, which is the appeal, but there is little evening life.

Nearby

Deventer is north; Doesburg is south along the IJssel.

Key facts