Free audio walk in Utrecht

The History of Utrecht

38 min
3.2 km
14 stops
Free

Starts at Domplein

About this walk

From the Roman fort beneath Dom Square to the liberation on the Vredenburg: a thousand years of Utrecht on foot, past a cathedral that was never finished and a castle the city pulled down with its own hands.

The stops

Walk them in order; each story plays when you reach its pin.

Map of the 14 stops on The History of Utrecht

1
Stop 1
Welcome to Utrecht
The walk begins on an old bastion, beside the moat the city dug around itself.
2
Stop 2
The Utrecht Ship
A ship in this basement grew a thousand years younger than anyone expected.
3
Stop 3
The Wharf Cellars of the Oudegracht
Seven hundred and thirty-two cellars lie under the street you are standing on.
4
Stop 4
Why the Oudegracht Is Here
The city lost its river and dug itself a harbour instead.
5
Stop 5
The City Hall on the Stadhuisbrug
The city hall is a row of private medieval houses the city swallowed one by one.
6
Stop 6
Palace Lofen and the City Rights
Behind a gate on the Vismarkt lies the spot where Utrecht became a city.
7
Stop 7
Traiectum beneath Dom Square
Under Dom Square lies the Roman fort the city owes its name to.
8
Stop 8
Building the Dom
Three hundred years of building, and the most important part stood there unsupported.
9
Stop 9
The Union of Utrecht
The treaty that made the Netherlands was announced in this hall.
10
Stop 10
The Disaster Years
A tornado took the nave of the cathedral in fifteen minutes, and there was no money to rebuild it.
11
Stop 11
The Guilds of Utrecht
For centuries this city was governed by bakers, shoemakers and smiths.
12
Stop 12
The Neude and the Temple of Post and Telegraphy
Convent, mint, post office, library: four lives on one piece of ground.
13
Stop 13
Vredenburg Castle
Beneath this square lie the remains of a fortress the people of Utrecht pulled down themselves.
14
Stop 14
Liberation on the Vredenburg
On the square where an emperor once put a fortress, people danced on the seventh of May 1945.