Kapel (Chapel) Heilige Geest Zusterhuis

Kapel (Chapel) Heilige Geest Zusterhuis was one of the four major storage buildings for military equipment. In this one kept weaponry, cuirasses, "platrons", antique swords "like those still used by the Swiss", some long cannons, ready to shoot cannon balls at long distances from cannons at the Delft fortifications. Futhermore several models of old instruments and a diver's suit: "A suit of strange appearance, made from leather and metal, for diving under water, in order to drill ships into the ground by night , having hornglassed visors, leas shoes to keep one from floating and espeacially a long hose with a funnel attached which floats on the water in order to breath air".

More weaponry and military implements kept in the Army Museum at the Armamentarium. In the old days weapons would be stored there and in the sloping wooden shed outside Schiedam Gate, both visible on Vermeer's View of Delft.

Note. John Landwehr "De Nederlander uit en thuis, spiegel van het dagelijks leven uit bijzondere zeventiende-eeuwse boeken", Alphen a/d Rijn 1981, p 123, quoting Dirk van Bleijswyck, Beschryvinge van de stadt Delft.

This page forms part of a large encyclopedic site on Delft. Research by Drs. Kees Kaldenbach (email). A full presentation is on view at johannesvermeer.info.

Launched 16 February 2005; Last update March 1, 2017. More info in the RKD site.