Cloud travel destination: Delft
Highlights of the tour: porcelain
Delft is close to The Hague and takes just 15 minutes by train. Narrow canals, quaint riverside houses and towering church towers all frame this Dutch town. It was here that the microscope was born, where the inventor Anthony van Leeuwenhoek and the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer became friends.
One of the reasons why Delft is famous is that it produces the Royal Delft blue porcelain of the Netherlands, and the unique blue color of this porcelain is called "Delft Blue". Before 1840, there were 23 ceramic factories in Delft, and now only one is left in Royal Delft, which still maintains the traditional porcelain-making process. The Delft blue porcelain version of Rembrandt's Night Watch, which was produced by two retired veteran painters in 1999, took about one year and two months to complete, and in order to reproduce Rembrandt's famous paintings, a total of 480 pieces of porcelain were fired, representing the highest level of Delft blue porcelain.
In the Factory Museum, the rich collection of Delft blue porcelain is amazing. Visit the factory, you can also make your own handmade porcelain plate, experience the whole process of hand painting. Afterwards, enjoy a delicious coffee and a signature afternoon tea, and try traditional Dutch dishes and waffles at het gulden ABC.
The aforementioned Johannes Vermeer is a famous Dutch painter known as "the last master of the Golden Age of Dutch painting", with a very unique treatment of light. Vermeer painted only 37 paintings in his lifetime, creating his own world in it. Walking the streets of Delft, you can see Vermeer's famous painting "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" appearing on various commodity packaging in the window next to it. The Vermeer Centre is located on The Street of Vostrat next to the canal-side Church in the Old Town, and you can learn more about the hidden information in his work.
Beijing News reporter Qu Xiaoyi
Edited by Li Zheng Proofreader Chen Diyan
Photo courtesy of The Dutch Tourist Board