"Kampen" a Kampen Travel Page by OlafS

Anyone who visits this small town will probably see that this place once was quite important. But no one will see that Kampen once was one of the most powerful cities of the Northern Netherlands, perhaps even the mightiest. Mightier than Utrecht, city of the bishop. Mightier than Amsterdam, the backward village that later became Kampen's successor. Mightier than the cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen, cities favoured by the German emperor. Even mightier than Zwolle, the current provincial capital. Kampen was a leading member of the Hanseatic League and became rich by the trade on the Baltics. Today many buildings remind of this former glory, but the town itself lost its importance when its access to the sea silted. Amsterdam took its chance and took over Kampen's position. The rest, as they say, is history. Nowadays Kampen is a quiet little town. A very protestant town too, with no less than two theological universities, representing competing branches of calvinism. We visited the town on a Sunday. It seemed as if all locals were hiding, as many of them belong to conservative protestant denominations that believe that on Sundays you're not supposed to do anything besides going to church. The few other tourists didn't help much to change the image of a ghost town Kampen presented itself with on that day. Which was great for taking pictures of course, but as it was such a lovely day it was a bit sad too.