Delft

Delft (dĕlft), city (1994 pop. 91,941), South Holland prov., W Netherlands. It has varied industries and is noted for its ceramics (china, tiles, and pottery) known as delftware. Founded in the 11th cent. and chartered in 1246, Delft was an important commercial center until superseded (17th cent.) by Rotterdam. The aspect of old Delft has changed little since Jan Vermeer, who was born and lived there (17th cent.), painted his famous View of Delft. The city's notable buildings include a 13th-century Gothic church (Oude Kerk); the Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (15th cent.), with the tombs of William the Silent, who was assassinated in Delft, and the humanist Hugo Grotius, who was born there; and the 17th-century town hall. Delft has a technical university.

---

Delft

City (pop., 2001 est.: 96,180), southwestern Netherlands. Founded in 1075 and chartered in 1246, it was a trade centre in the 16th–17th centuries and was famous for its delftware pottery. It was the birthplace of jurist Hugo Grotius (1583) and painter Jan Vermeer (1632). Landmarks include a Gothic church, a Renaissance-style town hall, and a 17th-century armory. Principal manufactures include ceramics.

---

Delft

1. a town in the SW Netherlands, in South Holland province. Pop.: 97 000 (2003 est.)

2. tin-glazed earthenware made in Delft since the 17th century, typically having blue decoration on a white ground

3. a similar earthenware made in England

---

Delft 

a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Zuid-Holland on a branch of the Lek, which is an arm of the Rhine River. Population, 84,000 (1970). Its industries include metalworking and machine-building (cables, metal structures, and equipment for the food, chemical, and transport industries) and the production of varnishes. Kaolin is obtained nearby.

From the end of the 16th century Delft has been a center for the manufacture of ceramics (delftware). Delft has retained the appearance of an old “water town,” with canals and brick houses of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Its buildings include the Gothic churches Oude Kerk (13th to 15th centuries) and Nieuwe Kerk (1384-1476) and the Town Hall, built in 1619-20 by the architect H. de Keyser. In the middle of the 20th century the Technological University was constructed, including the lecture hall, built in 1961-62 by the architects J. H. van den Broeck and J. B. Bakema. In the town museum, Prinsenhof, are paintings by artists of the Delft school of the 17th century.

REFERENCE

Eisler, H. Alt-Delft. Vienna, 1923.