an inventory and documentary of art environments in Europe created by non-professionals
July 03, 2023
Chris van der Sman, Miniatuur kerken in buitenruimte / Miniature churches in outdoor space
seen from the street via Google Maps
a view of the outdoor area with miniature churches
The miniature churches in the image above are set up in an outdoor space in Nootdorp in the Netherlands, a village with 19.000 inhabitants (2021), located east of The Hague, the city where the Dutch parliament is located.
Life and works
These life size stone replicas were made by Chris van der Sman, who was born in 1935 as one of a set of twin boys. The twins had an older brother and ten other children would be born after them.
The older brother, called Kees, made a miniature town in his younger years, a creation which has now almost been lost. Chris, who in later years would surpass him in building miniatures, went to work in a painting company after primary school at the age of 14.
He would continue to do this work until his retirement, the last thirty years working from his own one-man business.
Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), Delft this image and the next four are screenprints from the video by Omroep West referred to in the documentation
Chris married on January 24, 1962 and the young couple moved into a house along Sportparkweg (Sportspark road) in Nootdorp, where they still live. They had two daughters.
In the same year 1962, Chris started the creative project, which he would work on with great passion for the rest of his life. His choice to make replicas of churches is related to his great admiration for the work of builders of churches in earlier centuries.
It started with the manufacture of a replica of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)in the city of Delft, located near Nootdorp. On July 21, 1962, his wife laid the foundation stone for the structure, which on a scale of 1:20, has a tower with a height of 5.40 meters,
The image above shows in detail the a few centimeters large building blocks used by van der Swan to build the walls. He has developed a method that allows him to manufacture more than 1100 bricks in an hour.
A project such as that of the Nieuwe Kerk comprises about 100,000 such stones.
In 1987, after 25 years of work, Chris van der Sman's first replica of a church was completed. Striking aspects of this creation are the stained glass windows, the clockwork and the copper bells.
Making replicas of towering structures now had such a place in his life that he immediately started a new project.
Oude Kerk (Old Church), Delft
This new project was again a 1:20 replica of a church located in Delft, this time the Oude Kerk (the Old Church),
The tower of this church is 10 centimeters out of line, and the same is the case with van der Sman's replica.
This project took some 20 years. It was finished in 2008. when van der Sman was in his early seventies.
part of Dom Toren (Dom Tower, (Utrecht) the upper part had been brought down, probably for maintenance, as can be seen in the very first image
Van der Sman tirelessly started on the next major project in scale 1:20, the Dom tower in Utrecht, which is the highest in the Netherlands at over 112 metres. His grandchildren laid the foundation stone in 2008 on his birthday, when he became 73.
Van der Sman had thought it would take twelve years to complete the construction, but after ten years the creation was already finished, so at the age of 83 he started a somewhat smaller project that was expected to take two years.
This became a project closer to home, the small Village Church in the Dorpsstraat in Nootdorp.
It's a church with a long history. Founded as a wooden church somewhere between 1225 and 1250, it became a stone church in 1547, which has experienced many disasters over the centuries. Currently a national monument, it requires the necessary attention in terms of maintenance.
Building and tower are relatively small, so van der Sman made the replica, which only includes the tower, on 1:11 scale, so that it doesn't blend in with the other creations in the ensemble of creations.
Another project ?
When this project was completed, Van der Swan did not immediately start a new project. He filled his time with cycling and walking tours.
However, when he was interviewed in June 2023 at the age of 88, he said he missed building and that he was already making drawings for a new project: the Bartholomeuskerk along the Veenweg in Nootdorp, not far from his home (image below).
Let's see whether and how this project develops. In the field of art environments, there are more non-professional artists who were still building creations at an advanced age.
this image from Google Streetview
Future of the creations
Chris van der Sman sometimes wonders what will happen to his creations in the future, when he is no longer there. He would be happy if they could be accommodated and maintained elsewhere.
There is interest from Utrecht in locating the Dom Tower in a beautiful spot in or near the Galgenwaard Stadium. As for the replicas of the Delft churches there are currently no developments.
A popular Dutch theme?
In the Italian internet magazine about outsider art Bric-à-Brac (2022, nr 5) I published an article entitled Arquitectura Fantástica en Los Países Bajos caracterizada par torres y castillos, discussing the fact that a quarter of the art environments in the Netherlands,documented in this weblog in early 2022, had to do with a skyward-facing structure (tower, church with tower, donjon, etc).
Now that van der Sman's site is added to this blog, the share of such creations has only increased. This relatively large interest may have to do with an affinity of non-professional Dutch artists for beautiful buildings from former times.
Documentation
* Article (August 2016) in newspaper Nederlandse Dagblad
* Article (February 2022) in journal Telstar Online,
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