De ‘bemoeijingen’ van Koch. P.J.H. Cuypers, F.C. Koch en de restauratie van de Grote Kerk in Zwolle 1875-1898

Abstract

By the second half of the nineteenth century, the Grote Kerk, or St-Michael’s Church, in Zwolle was in bad repair indeed. Initially, in 1875, the Reformed congregation only considered repairing the church windows. Eventually, under the supervision of government advisor P.J.H. Cuypers (1827-1921), the church underwent a large-scale restoration. It was one of the largest early restoration projects in which the Board of Government Advisors for Monuments of History and Art played an advisory part. The restoration itself took place under the management of Zwolle’s native architect F.C. Koch (1840-1917). In general, the literature assumes that Cuypers was responsible for the design and that Koch was merely the ‘executive’ architect. This article qualifies this assumption. The research not only offers a clear overview of the restoration process of the Grote Kerk in Zwolle at the end of the nineteenth century, but also presents a much more balanced view of the relationship between Cuypers and Koch, and sheds light on V. De Stuers’ (1843-1916) role in the restoration process. De Stuers, a senior government official at the Home Department, had adopted a critical attitude towards Cuypers’ restoration designs and, behind the scenes, played an important steering role in the restoration research. The sources show that Cuypers greatly influenced the course and scale of the restoration. As government adviser he advocated an overall restoration of the church and personally drew up restoration plans and a budget. And so the initial plan to restore a few windows developed into an overall restoration, in which Koch was not just the implementer of Cuypers’ restoration ideas but had a much greater influence on the end result than has been assumed until now. He played a major part in the restoration research, effectively designed the north portal and made his mark on the restoration with his designs for elements such as the window tracery, the vault paintings and the consistory. As government advisor, Cuypers was of course authorized to make changes to Koch’s designs and Koch needed his permission to implement them, but in many instances Cuypers made hardly any changes or none at all. In his restoration advice Cuypers hardly made any comments on Koch’s designs either. This shows how attention should also be paid to the exact nature of the ‘bemoeijingen’ (involvement) of so-called executive architects when analyzing the Dutch government-subsidized restoration practice in the nineteenth century.