The center of Utrecht is of course more than just a shopping paradise with nice restaurants and great nightlife, it is also like a kind of open-air museum. The Domstad is bursting with monuments, where in all cases a special story is hidden behind the façade. With 1506 national monuments Utrecht takes an impressive third place on the list of ’top 20 municipalities with the most national monuments’. And soon it will be Open Monument Day again!
It is the Oudegracht, which was dug around 1122, which counts most of the listed monuments, 222 as many as possible. At some distance the Nieuwegracht will follow with 102 and then the Kromme Nieuwegracht with 50 national monuments. The system of yards and yard cellars of the Oude- and Nieuwegracht is unique in the world on this scale. It is worth it to take a walk along the canals of Utrecht on a Sunday afternoon and pay attention to the monumental buildings on both sides.
Of course you can take a walk along the Utrecht canals on your own, for example on the basis of the municipal monument list, the Monumentenkaart, the overview of national monuments on Wikipedia or via the VVV-Utrecht, but many times it is more fun to do that during Heritage Day on Saturday 8 September. With this year as the theme In Europe, over 70 monuments are open to the public in Utrecht. Together they give an impression of the multifaceted relationship between the Dom city and Europe.
What was the role of Utrecht in the Roman Empire? How important was Utrecht in medieval Europe? Look for the traces of European key figures like Karel V, Pope Adrian VI and Louis Napoleon. Discover the influence of European trends in architecture, but also the role of science, of our university and the influence of Utrecht scientists in Europe. You will see that European history has left its mark in Utrecht and at the same time that Utrecht and the Utrecht people have contributed to the Europe of the past and the present.