Restoration of the Dom Tower was completed at the end of the summer and that is reason for many festive activities

After five years of being hidden behind scaffolding cloth, the Cathedral will come out of the scaffolding this year and Utrecht will get its icon back. The restoration will be completed (according to plan) at the end of the summer. This is celebrated festively all year round. Under the title ‘De Dom goes all out!’ Utrecht Marketing organizes a series of activities in which all Utrecht residents can participate. In addition, the municipality of Utrecht is organizing a delivery moment on November 9 – on St. Martin’s Day, the festival of lights – during which the new lighting of the Dom Tower with color and special effects will be unveiled.

The Cathedral goes all out!

Before that happens, special activities are planned. For example, you can dine in the Michael’s Chapel, a pop-up tattoo studio will open its doors to make special tower tattoos and an attempt will be made during a stair climbing competition to break the record of 2.21 minutes from 2016. Furthermore, the Michaelskapel turns into a cinema and Koos Marsman organizes the Grote Domtorenkwis. In addition, there is a connection with existing events such as City Day and Open Monument Day. Utrecht Marketing is also developing an educational program that will actively involve all 33,000 Utrecht primary school students in the celebration. A complete overview of the activities can be found on domtoren.nl.

Celebrate the Cathedral: celebration of the end of the restoration (November 9, 2024)

The completion of the Cathedral will take place on November 9, linked to the celebration of Saint Martin, the patron saint of the city. The participants of the parade will receive a special reception on Domplein, together with the professionals who made the restoration possible and a large number of invited city residents. The program consists of short speeches and a lot of music, of course also from city carillonneur Malgosia Fiebig, and ends with the official delivery: the unveiling of the new lighting of the Dom Tower with color and special effects.

In the coming months, the scaffolding – which consisted of 55 kilometers of scaffolding pipes and more than 40 kilometers of planks, a total of 440,000 kilos of material – will be lowered further. This spring the dials and hands will be returned to the tower. The installation of the new lighting will be ready when the restoration is completed, at the end of the summer of 2024. The restoration of the underpass will also be ready at that time.