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Lesley Peterson is a Toronto-based blogger tripping on travel, art, culture, museums, cities and legendary landscapes. Catch her on Twitter as @culturetripper or contact her at lesley@culturetripper.com. All content by Lesley Peterson copyright © 2009 - Until the Present. All photos by Lesley Peterson except where other credit noted.
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The most beautiful bookstore in the world
Stepping into Boekhandel Dominicanen in Maastricht, Netherlands, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Occupying a Dominican church dating from 1294, the shop well deserves its reputation as the most beautiful bookstore in the world.
A 700-year-old Dutch church is home to a heavenly bookshop.
The medieval church lacked a congregation and was actually being used for public bike storage before undergoing refurbishment for the Selexyz book chain by Dutch architects Merkx + Girod in 2006. Update April 2015: Selexyz closed their branch and the Boekhandel Dominicanen is being proposed for crowdfunding.
The architects were confronted by the challenge of installing a second floor, a step that could potentially chop the church’s interior height in half. The solution was a monumental metal bookcase offset to one side. The giant bookshelf increases the store’s rack space without altering the church’s character and beauty.
The upper racks.
Climbing to the upper racks affords shoppers a closer look at faded ceiling frescoes while a coffee stand in the former choir area features a modern reading table shaped like a cross. The café hosts art shows and weekly events.
Reading tables are a common feature in Dutch cafes.
As part of the Selexyz chain, Dominicanen offered a vast array of books and magazines in Dutch as well as English, French and Spanish languages, making it a very useful address for international travelers. (Its status as an operating retail outlet as of April 2015 is uncertain; see links at the end of this article re crowdfunding.) The shop is located near Vrijthof Square, beside the Entre Deux shopping centre, another example of innovative refurbishment of historic architecture in Maastricht.
Selexyz Dominicanen offers reading material in Dutch, English, French and Spanish.
Maastricht, Netherlands, is a vibrant university town famed for its Roman past and Carnival celebrations. TEFAF Maastricht, the world’s leading fine art and antiques fair, takes place here every March. From Amsterdam, Maastricht is about two and a half hours by car or train. It’s also easily accessible from other European cities like Paris, Brussels, Dusseldorf and Cologne. For more on this relaxing yet sophisticated Dutch city, see Maastricht Tourism.
Also see Holland.com, official website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions.
For more on the bookstore’s current status, including crowdfunding efforts, see Boekhandel Dominicanen on Facebook and on Twitter as @BkhDominicanen
The square outside Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore.
Looking down in the Selexyz store can be a grave matter.
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Wow, that is an astonishing bookstore! Great photos
WOW is exactly what I said when I opened your latest post. Amazing pix.
That giant offset bookshelf was really a great solution. Kudos to the architects and selexyz for giving this church a new life beyond being a bike storage depot.
Truly beautiful…it’s almost prayer worthy. Love your unique cultural finds, Lesley.
Amazing…that’s all I have to say.
I didn’t have a strong enough zoom to adequately photograph them, but the ceiling frescoes are really lovely. I recall one grouping of medieval female figures, Dutch-blonde heads delicately tilted, pretty pastel gowns…
OMG, I have never seen such a beautiful library. I would never leave! How wonderful that this old beauty has a new lease on life.
A terrific place to find a new book! Books forever!
I love browsing bookstores and this one is so beautiful – what a wonderful renovation of an old church! I always thought that it would be wonderful to run a bookstore/café but independent bookstores just aren’t viable here anymore with all of the big box stores.
That’s simply amazing! I have to go now. 🙂
I love that the modern shop completely respects the historic church. The cross shaped table is a nice touch too.
Oh my – this looks so beautiful and amazing…a place I could spend all day, many days, at. What I would do to live closer. This is the second post Ive read on the netherlands today. I’ve got the itch to return and spend more time there. Thank you for introducing me to this beautiful place, I won’t forget it!
Absolutely incredible! But it is a shame this is no longer a church..but if a church is to be converted, I guess a library is one of the most suitable solutions especially when they consider preserving the interiors and view such as this place.
Simply awesome blog ..