Whereas Amsterdam was expanding rapidly around 1650, constructing one encircling canal after another, construction in Utrecht remained within the medieval city walls. The room freed up by the demise of the monasteries was sufficient to accommodate the growing population. Nevertheless, city planners looked enviously at Amsterdam, wishing to pursue a comparable expansion plan. Architect, painter and politician Paulus Moreelse had already made such a plan in 1624, and forty years later his son Hendrick once again rolled it out on the table.

New neighbourhoods were to arise to the west of the city. The axis of the new area would be formed by the Leidsche Rijn, a canal created by straightening the course of the Oude Rijn river. This canal reduced the travel time to Leiden by horse-drawn boat to eight hours, making it a veritable high-speed link in those days. Moreelse’s plans seemed destined to be realised, until an economic crisis intervened. Soon after Utrecht was occupied by the French army of King Louis XIV and then struck by a tornado in 1674, so that there was neither the money nor the need to embark on any urban expansion. The population shrank and there were enough damaged houses that required reparation.

The Utrecht painter Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot recorded the existing situation during the time the city’s expansion was under discussion. In the foreground we see the agrarian landscape and the meandering Oude Rijn. A number of defensive towers are clearly visible: the Plompetoren to the north (on the left), the Smeetoren and the Bijlhouwerstoren to the south (on the right). Owing to the excellent wind conditions, several windmills were built on top of the city walls, while a large number of church towers are visible in the town itself. Some of these still stand today: the Dom Tower, the Buurkerk, Geertekerk and St-Nicolaaskerk towers. Others were toppled in the 1674 tornado, such as the towers of the Sint-Janskerk and the Sint-Pieterskerk. The Jacobikerk tower lost its spire, not to be replaced until 1953. Some of the churches depicted here survived the storm, but not later human demolishment.

With this painting, Droochsloot recorded a panorama that seemed on the verge of changing forever. The expansion plan was dropped, but the skyline was to change dramatically anyhow a few years later, due to the tornado. Unaware of this impending peril, the painter recorded the existing situation for all subsequent generations.