Interieur met orgel van de Sint-Bavokerk te Haarlem 1912 - 1917

Adriaan Boer made this photograph of the organ in the Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem, probably in April 1917. The image allows us to reflect on the place of religious institutions and their architecture within Dutch society at the time. Haarlem's Grote Kerk, dedicated to Saint Bavo, had been appropriated from the Catholic church for Calvinist Protestant worship in 1578. Yet, as we can see from the architecture, it still retained the features of a high medieval church. The organ, prominently featured here, would have been a major element in the services. Boer’s photograph shows us the church as an institution and a place, but we also learn something about the aesthetics of Dutch Calvinism. As historians, we rely on sources from the period to learn more about the ways the Dutch related to their sacred spaces. Records from the church and municipality would give further context. We see that the meaning of art is always contingent on social and institutional context.