The city that gave its name to the most copied style of ceramics in history — where Johannes Vermeer painted light so perfectly that he is now described as the 'master of light', William of Orange was assassinated in the stairwell of his headquarters in the world's first recorded political handgun murder, and the blue and white Delftware tradition began as a cheap imitation of Chinese porcelain and became the defining image of the Netherlands
Delft (105,000) is one of the most completely preserved 17th-century Dutch canal cities — compact enough to walk across in 20 minutes, with more genuine 17th-century architecture than Amsterdam. Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) spent his entire life here; his 34 surviving paintings include the View of Delft (Mauritshuis, The Hague) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis), both painted from the city where he was born, lived, and died. Delftware (tin-glazed blue and white earthenware, produced here since the 1600s) became the most imitated ceramics style in European history — the Royal Delft fa…
Delft was founded in the 12th century and became politically significant as the seat of William of Orange (William the Silent, 1533–1584), leader of the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule and father of the Dutch Republic. William was assassinated in the stairwell of the Prinsenhof (his headquarters) on 10 July 1584 by Balthasar Gérard, in what is considered the first recorded political assassination using a handgun in European history — the bullet holes are still visible in the stairwell wall. The Nieuwe Kerk (New Church, begun 1381) contains the mausoleum of William of Orange and the crypt of…