The nave and choir of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 1641
In the young Republic, only Reformed services were held in former Catholic churches. Statues and paintings of saints were forbidden. This 11th-century church of the Virgin Mary kept the decorations on the pillars, which Saenredam displayed with great attention - and even with gold leaf. On the left, visitors are looking at an image of a bull on a column: according to legend, this column continued to collapse during construction, until it was placed on a bull's skin.
