Dordrecht – Joan Blaeu, 1649

“Dordrecht”, copper engraving published in Amsterdam in 1649 by Joan Blaeu, as part of his Toneel der Steden van de Vereenighde Nederlanden [Theatre of the Cities of the United Netherlands]. Coloured by a later hand. Verso: Latin text. Size: 41.5 × 52 cm.

Dordrecht is the oldest city in Holland (city rights granted in 1220). Because of this, and due to its medieval staple right, Dordrecht remained until 1795 the first in rank among the six major cities of Holland. As can be seen on the map, the city occupies a favourable position at a junction of waterways, at the meeting point of sea inlets and rivers. It is believed that the Count of Holland, William I, deliberately founded the city as a trading settlement.

The city plan is characterised by its two long harbours. The first is the Voorstraathaven (“Old Harbour”), with the Market Square in the middle and, further west, the town hall built across the Old Harbour. The second is the “New Harbour,” constructed in 1410. On the Maas side, between the two harbours, stands the Great or Church of Our Lady (“Groote Kerck”), which still dominates the view of the city from Zwijndrecht. The city was still protected by a medieval wall and moat. Only on the riverside were a few small modern fortifications added, such as bastions. A charming detail is that Joan Blaeu spelled the Blauwhooft (upper left; so called because of the use of blue-tinted Namur limestone) as “Blaeu poort.” The sluice gate at the mouth of the Spuihaven (right), built in 1640, is already shown on the map.

Outside the city moat we see small plots with shipyards and timber storage sites. The street alongside them is still called Kromhout. In the upper corners of the plan appear the coats of arms of Holland (a red lion on gold) and of Dordrecht (three vertical bands of red, silver, and red).

The map was probably made in the 1640s especially for Joan Blaeu’s townbook, using information obtained from the city authorities. Blaeu therefore dedicated the map to “the most noble, most wise, and most learned gentlemen, the sheriff, burgomasters and aldermen, and the entire council of the city-state of Dordrecht.”

The Amsterdam cartographer and publisher Joan Blaeu sought to fulfill the ambitions of earlier mapmakers Abraham Ortelius and Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg by adding a series of town books to his multi-volume world atlas.

Price: Euro 750,-