Every design for Druten

Have you ever crossed the Waal on the ferry between Druten and Dodewaard? It is the old way into this eastern corner of the Land van Maas en Waal, a river landscape of villages that were already standing by 1100 and grew prosperous on arable farming, building churches far grander than their size.

There is a calm to Druten that comes from the river and the fields around it. The Afferdense en Deestse Waarden stretch along the water, the Drutens Bosje offers shade closer to home, and the villages of Afferden, Deest, Horssen and Puiflijk belong to the same municipality. In the town itself, the church designed by Pierre Cuypers and dedicated to the Two Ewalds is the landmark everyone knows, with statues from the studio of Cuypers and Frans Stoltzenberg. The shops gather along the Hogestraat and around the market square, busiest on a Friday, when the weekly market and late-night shopping fall on the same day.

Look at this map and you can trace a childhood: the walk to school, the Friday market, the Waal never far away at the end of the day.