If you ask anybody on the streets of the city where one should go if he is interested in places of worship, there is a 100% chance that Martinikerk will be amongst first recommendations. The oldest church in the province, Martinikerk is, undoubtedly, one of the main tourist attractions in the city. That's why it deserves to be the first in my visiting list.
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| Source:Wikipedia |
It should be mentioned that I was in Martinikerk before; as a part of the Welcoming Ceremony during my first year in the University of Groningen. However, at that time I was so immersed into the useless paper work upcoming study programme that I did not have a chance to experience the church from the perspective of a tourist.
As soon as I entered the church, I felt the same vibes as during my first year. The architecture style that stressed the massiveness of elements (for me, personally, seemed so) made the church look so majestic that anyone would feel himself tiny and 'barely worthy' of being inside this building.
Yet, I was a bit disappointed when I was informed that chruch is not fully used for religious services anymore (only Sunday services). Most of the time the building is rented out for ceremonies, weddings, concerts, banquets etc. This posed the question: 'If this cathedral does not serve its initial purpose, how come tourists still visit it?'
The answer might be one of the earliest theories in tourist studies, namely Daniel Boorstin's Spectacle. It states that tourist, will inevitably fall into experiencing a 'pseudo-event' thinking that it is real. Therefore, tourism of that kind will never provide true authentic experience but isolate a tourist in a 'bubble' (Boorstin, 2012). |
| Lights are being prepared for an upcoming concert |
Since, my aim is to experience religious tourism, I am not here for a Spectacle, which means that we still need to find fully 'authentic' place of worship.
References
Boorstin, Daniel J. The image: A guide to pseudo-events in America. Vintage, 2012.
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