Kampen

Kampen, a town in the province of Overysel, Holland, on the left bank of the Ysel, 3½ m. above its mouth, and a terminal railway station 8 m. N.W. of Zwolle. It has regular steamboat communication with Zwolle, Deventer, Amsterdam, and Enkhuizen. Pop. (1900), 19,664. Kampen is surrounded by beautiful gardens and promenades in the place of the old city walls, and has a fine river front. The four turreted gateways furnish excellent examples of 16th and 17th century architecture. Of the churches the Bovenkerk (“upper church”), or church of St Nicholas, ranks with the cathedral of Utrecht and the Janskerk at ’s Hertogenbosch as one of the three great medieval churches in Holland. It was begun in 1369, and has double aisles, ambulatory and radiating chapels, and contains some finely carved woodwork. The Roman Catholic Buitenkerk (“outer church”) is also a fine building of the 14th century, with good modern panelling. There are many other, though slighter, remains of the ancient churches and monasteries of Kampen; but the most remarkable building is the old town-hall, which is unsurpassed in Holland. It dates from the 14th century, but was partly restored after a fire in 1543. The exterior is adorned with niched statues and beautiful iron trellis work round the windows. The old council-chamber is wainscoted in black oak, and contains a remarkable sculptured chimney-piece (1545) and fine wood carving. The town-hall contains the municipal library, collections of tapestry, portraits and antiquities, and valuable archives relating to the town and province. Kampen is the seat of a Christian Reformed theological school, a gymnasium, a higher burgher school, a municipal school of design, and a large orphanage. There are few or no local taxes, the municipal chest being filled by the revenues derived from the fertile delta-land, the Kampeneiland, which is always being built up at the mouth of the Ysel. There is a considerable, trade in dairy produce; and there are shipyards, rope-walks, a tool factory, cigar factories, paper mills, &c.