Jozefkerk - Collardslaan 2A

nice church to do a lot

Not a good atmosphere and a cold reception.

beautiful church

Nice fun in the center of Assen. Nice predecessor, nice Christmas night service.

Nice church! Good acoustics, beautiful welcome services every 6 weeks in the evening

Church service viewed with Rev. Ron Koopmans as pastor. A preacher as we like to hear.

Liturgy is not necessary, 4 screens in the front of the church. Beautiful space. Nice reception.

It was a bit difficult to find a so-called Grote Kerk in Assen, usually also the oldest church in a municipality. Research has revealed the Kloosterkerk, which has been mentioned with predecessors as early as the 8th and / or 9th century. See a review of this elsewhere. It also includes the takeover after the Reformation by the Reformed Church. He held the church there for a long time, but eventually moved away from a lack of space to his own church. And that has become the Jozefkerk, previously also called the Grote Kerk. The Jozefkerk is in fact, although a reformed, continuation of the 'oldest' Monastery church. The Reformed Municipality of Assen has been churching since the beginning of the 17th century in, as mentioned, the Kloosterkerk, Mariakerk or Abdijkerk, the former place of worship of the disappeared monastery Mariencamp aan de Brink, then popularly called "De Oude Kerk". Over the years, the municipality continued to grow, making the Abbey Church too small at one point. After the Abbey Church had already been enlarged a number of times in the 18th century, people started to build a new, larger church, the Grote Kerk, from 1840 onwards. After four years, the Reformed Congregation had the finances for the new church, which had been budgeted at f 44,000, in order. The Classicist building was designed by chief engineer C.J. Spaan van Waterstaat and Public Works. The design of the church is therefore what we now call a “Waterstaatskerk”, built in the so-called waterstaat style. These churches are characterized by the pursuit of symmetry, the use of arched windows of uncoloured glass, a column front, pilasters, a tower and whitewashed interior walls. The official opening of the “Grote Kerk” took place on April 30, 1848. On June 13, 1910, however, fate struck: during a severe storm, the tower of the church was struck by lightning. Due to the high altitude, the fire that followed was difficult to fight. The precious Van Dam organ suffered water damage. The tower was rebuilt but became larger than the original tower and the front of the church was also modified. The church and tower have been renovated several times in the past century. Last in 2008. For those interested, the church can be visited, see the website of the church, the Protestant congregation or the Tourist Office, subject Open House.