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Reflection Volume 13,Issue 3, Fall 2016 24 Friday’s Day Tour on July 8, 2016 A cultural daytrip between the geS/ICS and the Church Congress A comprehensive sightseeing tour for our (foreign) visitors, covering various attractive Dutch landmarks The Green Cathedral near Almere The Green Cathedral or De Groene Kathedraal , located near Almere in the Netherlands, is an artistic planting of Lombardy poplars ( Populus nigra italica ) that mimics the size and shape of the Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame in Reims, France. The Green Cathedral is 150m (490 ft) long and 75 m (246 ft) wide, and the mature poplar trees are approximate- ly 30m (98 ft) tall. The work was planted in 1987 by Marinus Boezem (b. 1934), in Southern Flevoland. The land art project was installed on polder land. 178 Trees were planted on a knoll, a half- metre above the surrounding area. Over the following years, some trees were replaced due to deer damage, and stone was laid in the floor to echo the cross ribs and sup- port beams of the cathedral. Nowmature, the cathedral has become a location for wed- dings, funerals, meetings and religious services of all kinds. Nearby, a clearing has beenmade in a young beech forest so that the open space is in the shape of the same cathedral. Boezem suggests that, as the poplars decline, the beech trees around the clearing will grow to create the church once more, thus insuring a cyclical evolution of growth, decline and growth. Muiden Castle Muiden Castle (Dutch: Muiderslot ) is a castle in the Nether- lands, located near Muiden at the mouth of the Vecht river, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee. It’s one of the better known castles in the Netherlands and has been featured inmany television shows set in the Middle Ages. The history of Muiden Castle begins with Count Floris V who built a stone castle at the mouth of the river back in 1280, when he gained command over an area that used to be part of the See of Utrecht. The Vecht river was the trade route to Utrecht, one of the most important trade towns of that age. The castlewas used to enforce a toll on the traders. It is a relatively small castle, measuring 32 by 35 metres with brick walls well over 1.5 metres thick. A large moat surrounded the castle. In 1297 the castle was conquered byWillem vanMechelen, the Archbishop of Utrecht, and by the year 1300 the castle had been razed to the ground. A hundred years later (about 1370–1386) the castle was rebuilt on the same spot, based on the same plan, by Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, who was at that time also the Count of Holland and Zeeland. The next famous owner of the castle shows up in the 16th century, when P.C. Hooft (1581–1647), a famous author, poet and historian, took over sheriff and bailiff duties for the area ( het Gooiland ). For 39 years he spent his summers in the castle and invited friends, scholars, poets and painters such as Vondel, Huygens, Bredero andMaria Tesselschade Visscher, over for visits. This group became known as the Muiderkring . At the end of the 18th century, the castle was first used as a prison, then abandoned and became derelict. Further neglect caused it to be offered for sale in 1825, with the purpose of it being demolished. Only intervention by King William I prevented this. Another 70 years went by until enoughmoney was gathered to restore the castle to its former glory. Muiden Castle is currently a national museum ( rijksmuse- um ). The insides of the castle, its rooms and kitchens, have been restored to look like they did in the 17th century and several of the rooms now house a good collection of arms and armour. Comenius Museum in Naarden John Amos Comenius ( Czech: Jan Amos Komenský, 1592– 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian fromMargraviate of Moravia. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book DidacticaMagna . He is considered the father of modern education. Comenius was the innovator who first introduced pictorial textbooks, written in native language instead of Latin. He applied effective teaching based on the natural gradual growth from simple tomore comprehensive concepts. Comenius supported lifelong learning and development of logical thinking by moving fromdull memorization. He presented and supported the idea of equal opportunity for impoverished children and he opened doors to education for women. In fact, he made instruction universal and practical. Besides his native Bohemian Crown, he lived and worked in other regions of the Holy Roman Empire, and other countries: Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, England, the Netherlands and Hungary. n