The Van Goghkerkje connects closely to the Van Gogh family and offers an intimate setting for small weddings in Nuenen.
Everyone remembers the first time they see the Van Goghkerkje in Nuenen
Places like the Van Goghkerkje carry a quiet sense of continuity. Standing inside, you feel the weight of time without it being overwhelming.
Over the years, the chapel has hosted weddings, baptisms, and family milestones, alongside moments of grief, reflection, and prayer. That history, combined with its simplicity and distinctive design, makes it my favourite wedding location in Nuenen for small weddings and vow renewals.
In the rest of this post, I’ll share more about this intimate chapel, located just steps from Salon Nune Ville and the Van Gogh Village Nuenen museum.
A Timeless Wedding Location for All Seasons
I have a problem. It may not seem like a problem to you, but I follow every footpath *just to see where it goes*. Which, you can imagine, living in Europe, has led to many a boggy ground and soggy socks. After our move to Nuenen, I started exploring just like I had in England and Eindhoven. I just don’t feel grounded in a place until I know my way around.
One of my favourite walks quickly became the windmill and little chapel loop. I could easily photograph the church and the Roosdonck windmill at sunrise or sunset. Then I make my way home for a meal. So it is no surprise that I stop by the church when it’s open. It’s usually open on Wednesday afternoons in the summer months. This is how I met Naomi and John, a couple from my church, who were visiting to plan their wedding.
I was thrilled when they later asked me to photograph their engagement and September wedding in the Van Goghkerkje. It is when the leaves are just thinking of changing, and the sun hangs golden and low in the sky.
Timeless Beauty
In fact, I look forward to every season around the Van Goghkerkje. In early Spring, the narcissus blooms along the path to the doors. And all the village photographers wait for the magnolia across the street to bloom in mid to late March. With summer, the chapel is covered by a green canopy of trees. This provides welcome shade and respite from the heat of the day.
And autumn is an absolute glory. There’s something about the combination of sunlight, brick, shadow, and foliage in the village that just makes me happy. It’s a harmony of colours captured by Vincent Van Gogh in his 195 paintings he painted in Nuenen.
Not to be forgotten would be the contrast of darkness and light that is winter. Often, a pine tree on the Kerkje grounds is bedecked with a string of lights. And the building itself might sport a star. With the lantern light above the arched doors, this wintry scene just beckons for blue light photos and bewondering.
Which is to say that you could pick any season and be happy with the Van Goghkerkje
Simplicity at its finest
A single chapel simply designed in the Neoclassical style, this church has seen many elements come and go. But the core of its contents remains largely unchanged over the last 200 years. Originally begun in 1824, this Water State church was built to calm contentions between Catholics and Protestants.
I love the simplicity of the church’s interior. It lends itself so well to simply elegant events and services due to its muted and simple tones in design.
The windows contain stained glass. But the colours of the glass are also muted, allowing sunlight to stream nearly unhindered into the hall. On the topic of light, there are different lighting setups that you can ask the Van Goghkerkje foundation about. Sometimes the uplighting along the ceiling is nice, sometimes only chandelier lighting. It depends on the occasion.
Upon entry, you find yourself in a small foyer. To your right is a door to a single toilet, and to your left a broom closet with a staircase for the organ balcony. This balcony is not open to the public but can be accessed by a photographer or organist. I do hear the organ is quite loud when played in the church. So often, the doors to the organ pipes are closed to dampen the sound a bit. Straight through the foyer, you enter the church hall.
Ethereal Elements That You Can’t Miss
The first thing you notice upon entry is the shape of the room. Not only is the chapel small, but it is not square. I don’t mean that measurements were incorrect in the construction – I mean that the church building, excluding the kitchen addition on the back, is shaped like an elongated hexagon. This shape and the curved ceiling give the church hall a resonant acoustic power, allowing music and word to flow freely through the hall.
I can attest to this as I’ve walked past the Van Goghkerkje many a Wednesday or Sunday afternoon and caught snippets of song or piano wafting from the doors enticingly.
The church has three large windows on each side, facing North and South, respectively, that allow natural light in for beautiful photography. And lastly, don’t forget to notice the smaller details like the fish on the original baptismal font, the beautifully illustrated antique Bible or the lectern. Stay to hear the church bells ring in the hour – the songs they play vary by the hour and season. There’s nothing quite like the atmosphere of the Van Goghkerkje in Nuenen.
There’s Nothing Quite Like Its History, Either
Nuenen was, for all intents and purposes, a small farm village without much claim to fame before the Van Goghs moved to it in the late 1800s. Theodorus Van Gogh, the father of Vincent Van Gogh, was a Protestant pastor who led worship at the Van Goghkerkje from 1882 until 1885. On 5 December 1883, Vincent moved to Nuenen to live with his parents.
When Vincent’s mother, Anna, broke her leg in 1884, Vincent painted the Van Goghkerkje for her as a way to cheer her up and help her take the time necessary to recover. Vincent’s father, Theo, served as pastor in the church until a cold March day when he returned home from a long walk to the farms in the area, and died at the doorstep of the family home. From there and from other circumstances, Vincent no longer wished to stay in Nuenen and left in November of 1885 for Antwerp.
The church gets its name from the ties to Vincent Van Gogh and his family, who lived only a short walk away in the rectory on the street named Berg. It is also a Van Gogh Monument and a national Rijksmonument.
Bonus: Easy Access To Local Restaurants and Stunning Photography Locations
An easy bonus of planning a wedding at the Van Goghkerkje is how close it is to amazing restaurants, picturesque countryside landscapes, and other historical monuments. Not only that, the gemeente offices are across the street. So you can have your wedding license, hold your ceremony, and celebrate your reception all within a couple of minutes’ walk.
I also happen to live a couple of minutes’ walk away, so it’s quite simple for me to photograph weddings there- I’m looking forward to my bookings there coming up. Having photographed many times within the building, I have experience with making the most of this space.
For A High-Impact Small Wedding Location, Look No Further
I’ve already told my oldest daughter that *IF* I were ever to marry again, I’d incorporate the Van Goghkerkje into my wedding plans. That’s how much I love it. It’s intimate, elegant, and timeless while also adaptable to your wedding wishes.
If you have any questions about the church, feel free to ask them in the comments or message the Van Goghkerkje itself at the email address listed below. Curious why my content is written in English? Read that here at Launching the Dutch Wedding Experience: 7 Reasons Why You Need This Incredible Resource In Your Life.
Want your wedding location photographed and featured? Let’s talk! I’m always happy to discover amazing wedding locations for Amy Harper Fotografie couples and English Speakers marrying in the Netherlands & Flanders.
Liefs, Amy
Everything in a Nutshell:
- Open to the Public: Between April & October every Wednesday and the last Sunday of the month between 13.30 and 17.00
- Available for: church weddings, civil weddings, partner registrations, and other occasions
- Total number of people: 80
- Toilet Available: 1
- Price: On request
- Address: Papenvoort 2a, Nuenen
- Post Address: Sportlaan 5, 5671 GR, Nuenen
- Email Address: vangoghkerkjenuenen@gmail.com
- Parking: Free parking is available around the church in designated parking places, as well as across the street in the Gemeentehuis parking lot
- Notable Portrait Locations Nearby: Houtrijk Park across the street, the Gemeentehuis and park across the other street, the Van Gogh Village Nuenen museum, and the Roosdonck Windmill are all within walking distance
- Special Touches: church bells available to ring, Rijksmonument, Van Gogh Monument, kitchen available behind the pulpit, several high-quality restaurants within walking distance
