Gezicht op het Oude Stadhuis en de Grote Kerk aan de Markt te Vlaardingen 1745 - 1775

Jan Caspar Philips rendered this view of Vlaardingen’s Old Town Hall and Great Church with etching and engraving. The buildings themselves are, of course, the central symbols of civic and spiritual life. Note the prominent church spire, a motif stretching back through the Gothic cathedrals to ancient obelisks—a symbol of aspiration towards the divine. It is echoed by the smaller spire atop the town hall. The collective memory embedded in these soaring forms speaks to humanity's perennial yearning for transcendence, a sentiment felt across cultures and epochs. We can trace this impulse even further back. Think of the Tower of Babel, an attempt to reach the heavens, or ancient Egyptian obelisks, symbols of the sun god Ra. Consider how these symbols have morphed and adapted. The spire, once solely a marker of religious significance, now shares the skyline with skyscrapers, secular monuments to human ambition. Yet, the emotional impact remains—a vertical thrust that stirs our subconscious with echoes of ancestral desires and fears. It continues to evolve, reflecting our ever-changing relationship with the spiritual and the material.