An ancient church in Friesland

One of my favorite little villages in Friesland is Olderberkoop. It is a charming village with a church in the center of the village green. Normally this church is not open but this past weekend there was a special event in which many churches in Friesland were open. Now I love old buildings, churches and graveyards so we stopped to look around. Won't you join me as I walk around?

This is the Bonifatiuskerk. It was built around 1125AD and is attributed to Saint Boniface who was a missionary in northern Holland.

Inside is lit by real candles.

And one of the doors still has its old iron hinges and lock.

A typical Dutch brass chandelier. These are a work of art in themselves.

The church is tiny but still holds features like this incredible pipe organ and faux marble pillars.

The architecture of the building is beautiful.

There are various bricks used pointing to changes being made to the church in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

I have loved looking at graves since I was a little girl. My parents used to take me to a historical graveyard in our town to walk around and read the graves. My father would drive slowly while I walked with my little brother reading the names and dates on the tombstones. I still love looking at graves to this day. This flat tombstone was the oldest among the few graves around the church. It was dated 1681.

These tombstones are so beautiful. This grave dates to 1901...

...and these from 1886, 1903 and 1928. The front stone is for a man that passed away in 1886 while his wife lived until 1928. Often, I wonder what things would have been like for a couple like this but looking around the green you see many of the houses that would have also been standing in their time. That is part of the charm of this village...