Stickertje met reclame voor een Rotterdams verhalenproject (Rotterdamsgeluk).

In Rotterdam vallen veel verhalen te rapen, volgens mij.

Dit hing ongeveer ter hoogte van de nieuwe Rotterdamse Markthal. Fantastische plek.

Op de achtergrond: de Laurenskerk. Ik citeer even uit mijn proefschrift. Ik beschrijf er een concertreeks met mijn ensemble Psallentes, in 2014. Toen deden we ook deze mooie kerk aan. “Cross-cut to Thursday 22 March, 7 pm. We have moved from the intimate setting of the castle ‘salon’ at ‘s-Heerenberg to the magnificent Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. In exactly one hour, we will sing the second of our seven-concert tour of The Netherlands. The Laurenskerk is the only remaining late-Gothic building from medieval Rotterdam, and it stands as a somewhat — not unpleasantly — anachronistic landmark between present-day architectural structures. Much like a few other churches we have seen in The Netherlands (notably the Pieterskerk in Leiden), the church building today has outgrown its original liturgical function. Services can still take place, but it now is a multifunctional building where concerts, exhibitions, symposia and even fairs and parties are also on the agenda. Consider it a way of giving the building back to the people of Rotterdam, with in the back of our minds the fact that in medieval times — according to the church guide — people could buy Rotterdam citizenship by contributing 3000 bricks to the construction of the tower.” (Hendrik Elie Vanden Abeele, ‘What late medieval chant manuscripts do to a present-day performer of plainchant’, Leiden University doctoral dissertation, pp. 32-33)

Och ja. Een mens mag zichzelf toch eens citeren hé.

Rotterdam, Ds. Jan Scharpstraat, 6 oktober 2015, Foto Elie Henri Vanden Abeele