Utrecht bookcases (58)

Utrecht bookcases (58) | News030

Every Sunday – until supplies last – Nieuws030 publishes a photo of a public Utrecht bookcase. (This was posted just in time!)

The crowded red-white-blue mini library with a pointed roof at the house Gijsbrecht van Walenborchstraat 9 is located in Tuinwijk-West. Behind the clearly visible books are a few stacks with the wrong side facing the mini library viewer. You have to take them out of the cupboard to see what you got. I think that could be arranged more conveniently. Before I mention a few books from the mini library, let’s first say a little more about the namesake of this street.

Gijsbrecht van Walenborch or Giselbertus de Walenburch lived in the 14th century. He was born in Utrecht, but we don’t know when. He died in 1387. He was a canon at the Cathedral of Utrecht. The Cathedral Church was still Roman Catholic at the time. Gijsbrecht will undoubtedly have lived with other clergy in a monastery near the Cathedral. He was also a scholar. That was a teacher or the head of a medieval cathedral or chapter school.

In 1367 Gijsbrecht took a leasehold of a piece of land on the Jansveld. He had a guesthouse built there to accommodate vagrants. This Margaretengasthuis was consecrated by the bishop in 1371. About a century and a half later, the guest house between Jansveld and Voorstraat was converted into the Margaretenhof. This was a courtyard with twenty so-called detached houses (homes free of rent) for poor people, mostly the elderly.

These detached houses or god chambers (built ‘for God’s sake’) consisted of one room and an attic. The Margaretenhof now consists of nine rental properties. Some houses still contain medieval brickwork. (Sources: Wikipedia, and the Margaretenhof Archives (The Utrecht Archives)

If you can read English well and like the atmosphere of the early nineteenth century, I can recommend the thick paperback ‘The Complete Novels of Jane Austen’ (1775-1817). Of the seven novels, three were only published after the British writer’s death. But of course her best-known novels remain: ‘Sense and sensibility’ and ‘Pride and prejudice’. Six of the seven novels have also been adapted into films.

Siegfried Lenz’s 2008 book ‘A Minute of Silence’ is set in a grammar school in a northern German town on the Baltic Sea. It is about a love affair between Stella Petersen, the young English teacher, and her eighteen-year-old student Christian. An impossible love that no one is allowed to know and the limited shelf life of perfect success. ‘About the words and gestures, the chance encounters and touches that formed the beginning.’ And: ‘about Christian’s daring plan to perpetuate the relationship and the fate that befalls the lovers that same summer.’

Margriet de Moor’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ from 2011 is set in the world of classical music. A younger colleague introduces the blind music critic Marius van Vlooten to violinist Suzanna Flier. He falls in love with her when he hears her play the first violin part in the ‘Kreutzer Sonata’, a string quartet by the Czech Leoš Janáček. Suzanna and Marius move in together in Wassenaar. They are happy for the first few years and have a son. Suzanna continues to perform regularly with her string quartet. Only, Marius becomes increasingly jealous of the two men in her ensemble. He comes up with all kinds of wild plans to kill Suzanna. Will this still be okay?

(DB)

Previously you saw photos of bookcases at:

1. Herenstraat
2. Croeselaan
3. Prins Hendriklaan
4. Willemstraat-Waterstraat-Bergstraat
5. Tuinstraat
6. Johan Winnubstlaan-Franz Schubertstraat
7. Central Station
8. Van Meursstraat
9. Juliana Park
10. Catharina van Renneslaan
11. Fransestraat
12. Kruisstraat
13. Daalse Park
14. Kapelstraat
15. Bouwstraat
16. Polderweg (Laag-Nieuwkoop)
17. Javastraat
18. Ons Buiten allotment complex
19. Sophocleslaan/Platolane
20. Poortstraat
21. Rotsoord
22. Willemsplantsoen
23. Mgr. from the Weteringstraat
24. Tesselschadestraat
25. Van Humboldtstraat
26. 2nd Atjehstraat
27. Oudegracht 285
28. Stadhouderslaan
29. Pieter Saenredamstraat
30. Japuradreef
31. Everard Meijsterlaan
32. Ameland
33. Bekkerstraat
34. Pauwstraat
35. Westphalia
36. Woodcutter’s Lane
37. Masking
38. Philippines
39. Schimmelpennincklaan
40. Taunus
41. La Croixstraat
42. WJ Bossenbroekstraat
43. Vosges
44. Cartesiusweg
45. Adriaan Mulderstraat
46. Flieruilensteeg
47. Gruttersdijk/Kraanstraat
48. Vondellaan
49. Hopakker
50. Vechtdijk
51. Fortlaan
52. Niftarlake Park
53. Koppestokstraat
54. Wittevrouwensingel
55. Olympus
56. Van Swindenstraat
57. Overvecht station