Secretly to church: this happened in the Zoetermeerse ‘Schuurkerk’

In the 16th century, Zoetermeerders secretly demolished alleys and on abandoned paths, on the way to a secret location. Not to buy forbidden means or for a secret romance, no: to go to church!

To understand why there was a secret ‘barn church’ in Zoetermeer, we have to give some historical context. The reform began in 1517: the number of trailers of the monk Maarten Luther grew. The Netherlands was then ruled by the Spanish Roman Catholic prince Karel V, who tackled supporters of this new faith. The result was a fierce battle in which supporters of the Protestant faith were persecuted. These went against this again, which resulted in the destruction of monasteries and churches during the ‘iconoclasm’.

Secret churches

After the Eighty Years’ War, Protestantism became the state religion of the Netherlands. The situation was now reversed: the Reformed Church had power and those who wanted to adhere to the Catholic faith had to do this secretly. This led to the origin of all kinds of secret Catholic churches: hiding churches. The churches were built in, among other things, barns and empty warehouses. There was nothing special to be seen from the outside, but from the inside a ecclesiastical interior was made and Catholic Church Masses organized.

Schuurkerk on the Voorweg

There was such a barn church on the Voorweg in Zoetermeer. Catholic Zoetermeerders secretly came together here to practice their faith. The first pastor to preach here was Martinus van der Velden from Leiden. He was arrested in 1639 and imprisoned in The Hague. The tension between the Protestants and Roman Catholics was so great that the pelted body of the pastor was pelted with stones.

Secretly to public

Fortunately, other beliefs than Protestantism were more accepted later. The Schuurkerk, which initially operated secretly, eventually received permission to expand. This was because, because of the draining in the region, many workers came to the area that were Roman Catholic. The Schuurkerk on the Voorweg later became an official church, until finally a larger church was built in the Dorpsstraat.

The barn church

The remains of the old Schuurkerk were found in the 90s of the last century and exhibited in 2022. Among the finds were a lot of utensils such as a holy water tray, a clock, crystal glassware and taps for the wine barrels.

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Sources: Reformational newspaper,, ” Old Soetermeer,, “ Zoetermeer Active and Memory of Zoetermeer