~cathedral of books~

January 9th, 2010

Leave it to the Dutch. In Maastricht one finds the Selexyz Dominicanen bookshop, housed in a 13th century Dominican church repurposed by architects Merkx + Girod. Featuring 14th century ceiling frescoes, and a café situated in the former choir (with a cheeky cruciform reading table), this shop is designed essentially as a giant, walk-in bookcase and purportedly sells more English-language books than any other in the Netherlands.

Also of note is a tiny shop on the east river (Wyck), by the name of Le Salonard. For a traditional German Brotzeit (Bread Time!) dinner, we bought wild boar salami, dry cheese from Holland, and the most amazing fruit-laden dark bread. It looked like something a witch would fatten you up with in a Grimm fairytale. The nutty cookies were also delish.