The Mariaplaats with the Mariakerk in Utrecht

Emperor Henry IV and the bishop of Utrecht founded this church around 1085, and when work resumed in the 1130s it was given Lombard details that made it look strikingly Italian so far north of the Alps. Saenredam knew it from drawings he made in Utrecht in 1636. In front stands the tall Gothic choir, with older Romanesque parts and an octagonal tower behind. At its foot a stall under an awning is hung with goods, and a few townsmen walk past the trees. None of it stands today. Demolition began in 1813, under French rule, to help pay for Napoleon's wars, and the choir came down in 1844 for a new arts and sciences building. Only the cloister survives. Saenredam lettered the building's name, his signature and the date, 20 November 1659, along the edge of that awning.