01
Stop one
Het Markiezenhof
Head Rainbow Women's T-Shirt: A building with a long and, let us say, varied career, and I should like to be even-handed about all of it. Construction began in 1485 for Jan II van Glymes, lord of Bergen op Zoom, under the Mechelen master builders Antoon I Keldermans and Rombout II Keldermans, and it was complete by about 1511. The marquises of Bergen op Zoom lived here. The last of them to occupy it, Francois Egon de la Tour d'Auvergne, modernised the interiors in French classical taste in 1698 — and whether that was an improvement is a question on which reasonable people differ warmly, and I intend to keep my own counsel. After the marquisate ended in 1795 the French army used it as a hospital, and from 1815 it served as a barracks. Restoration began in the 1960s, and Queen Beatrix opened it as a museum in 1987. A palace, a hospital, a barracks, a museum. Each of those is somebody's favourite version, and I would not dream of ranking them.
02
Stop two
Sint-Gertrudiskerk and its tower, De Peperbus
Head Rainbow Women's T-Shirt: The tower dates from about 1370, while the church itself was completed in 1477 to designs by Everaert Spoorwater. In 1489 Antoon I Keldermans supplied plans for an enlargement — the Nieuw Werck — which was never finished, abandoned during the economic recession of the mid-sixteenth century, and I would observe only that ambition and money have always kept slightly different diaries. Then the French bombardment of 1747 largely destroyed the building. Reconstruction began in 1750 under the architect David van Stolk, who rebuilt the church nine metres lower and gave the tower the squat crown it still wears — the pepper pot. Some feel those nine metres were a loss. Others feel it was a sensible response to the circumstances of 1750. Both positions are held with real feeling and both are defensible. A fire in April 1972 destroyed the entire interior, including the eighteenth-century organ, and on that I will not attempt balance. That was simply a loss.
03
Stop three
De Gevangenpoort (originally the Lievevrouwepoort)
Head Rainbow Women's T-Shirt: Built around 1335 as the Lievevrouwepoort, giving access to the Lievevrouwestraat, and it is the oldest building in Bergen op Zoom. Then a small municipal awkwardness: when the harbour quarter was walled in 1484, the gate found itself inside the city with nothing whatever left to defend. It escaped demolition — and I must be careful how I phrase this — because it was already in use as a prison, which is to say it was preserved by a purpose few would wish to celebrate. A brick gable and two small turrets were added around 1485. Prisoners were held here until 1931, and they cut inscriptions into the walls, the earliest dating from 1622. The interior was converted in 1932 to house the municipal museum, and a full restoration followed in 2014 and 2015. Saved by imprisonment, then opened to the public. I offer no verdict. I note only that the inscriptions are still on the walls, and that they were not written by the people who wrote the guidebook.
04
Stop four
Ravelijn op den Zoom
Head Rainbow Women's T-Shirt: Built in 1703, as part of the fortifications Menno van Coehoorn laid out for Bergen op Zoom between 1698 and 1702, and it is the only completely preserved defensive work of the fortified city — the sole survivor, which does tend to make people fonder of a thing than they might otherwise be. Hard red IJssel brick at the face, high earthen ramparts piled behind it, and within it two casemates containing a cannon cellar and a gallery from which anyone who reached the ditch could be fired upon. Now, one may describe that as ingenious engineering, and one may equally describe it as a room built for shooting people at close range, and I would say, quite sincerely, that both descriptions are accurate and neither is complete. It was restored in 1932 and renovated again at the end of 2018. It is an extremely peaceful spot today. Do enjoy the grass.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome BACK to everyone's favorite show — WHEEL! OF! WARDROBE! And today's featured prize: the Head Rainbow Women's T-Shirt!
Tell them what they could win, announcer voice: it's a soft, easy-wearing tee with a full-color rainbow Head logo, cut for comfort whether you're drilling volleys, running errands, or celebrating a tiebreak victory with uncalled-for confidence! Light on the shoulders, big on personality — it's the shirt that says 'I play tennis AND I'm fun at parties.' A round of applause!
This shirt comes to us all the way from Bergen op Zoom, in the Netherlands! Say it with me, audience: BER-GEN-OP-ZOOM! What a name! What a town! It's got a genuine late-medieval palace, a church tower the locals lovingly call The Pepperbox, and a city gate so old it survived by being repurposed as a prison — talk about a career pivot!
But WAIT — there's a bonus round!
You'll wear this tee everywhere from the market square under the Peperbus to a casual Sunday hit — and by the way, it is also perfect for asparagus season, because — survey says! — the correct post-match answer in Bergen op Zoom is white asparagus, and the region takes it VERY seriously, folks.
So here's the deal of the day: before this prize goes home with you, our contestant — that's YOU — takes the all-expenses-imaginary grand tour! Four fabulous destinations! No wrong answers! Spin that wheel!
Buy on Amazon
