Private William of Orange Walking Tour through Delft

Your guide will welcome you on Delft’s historic Market Square, one of the oldest market squares in the Netherlands, beside the statue of Hugo Grotius. The tour starts here. First, you will enter the New Church together with your guid for a guided visit. Here you'll visit the mausoleum of William or Orange.

After leaving the Market Square, your guide will pass the former Butter House, the old Weigh House, and the historic home of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, before entering Delft’s former beer-brewing quarter. Here stands the Old Church, famous for its strikingly leaning tower. Inside lies the grave of Johannes Vermeer. You will briefly enter the church with your guide, who will tell you about the church, its tower, and the people buried underneath.

Opposite the Old Church stands the Prinsenhof, a former monastery that later became a residence for William of Orange, known as the Father of the Fatherland. This site played a decisive role in Dutch history, as William of Orange was assassinated here in 1584. Your guide will explain how this event shaped the future of the Netherlands and why Delft became so closely linked to the House of Orange.

While walking along the Oude Delft canal, your guide will point out the oldest surviving house in the city. Since 1645, this richly decorated building has housed the local Water Board. Your guide will explain what a water board is, why it was vital to the survival and prosperity of Delft, and why water management has always been a matter of life and death in the Netherlands.

Continuing south along the Oude Delft canal, your guide will pass some of the city’s most impressive historic residences. In the south of the city, you'll find two powerful reminders of Delft’s Golden Age: the former state weapons armory and the main building of the Delft chamber of the Dutch East India Company. Your guide will explain Delft’s role in the military, maritime, and commercial expansion of the Dutch Republic. Nearby, you will also see the exact location where Johannes Vermeer stood when he painted his famous View of Delft.

Walking north along Delft’s second-oldest canal, once the city’s grain market, your guide will pass the former synagogue of Delft. This building reflects the long presence of a Jewish community in the city and it is a symbol of 19th-century religious tolerance.