The Zuiderkerk (Southern Church) is a protestant church in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The church was originally Sint Pancraskerk (St. Pancratius) built in 1458. The tower with the weathercock is owned by the town, and was restored in 1992. The first musical clock in this tower was installed in 1524. There are two bells in the tower which were installed in 1653. There is also a carillon of 52 bells connected to the keyboard of the organ inside the church. The interior was rennovated in 2013 and 2014.
We could see the weathercock on the church tower from the main square of Enkhuizen while we were touring the town a few months ago. We even heard the church bells while we were having a tea break in a local cafe. This old weathercock is a very old Christian symbol, dating back to Pope Gregory I (between 590 and 604 AD) who declared that every church should install the rooster as a symbol of Christianity. Pope Nicolas made the decree official in the 9th century. Many early churches took advantage of this decree to install weathercocks. The rooster stayed as a popular weathervane over the centuries, still seen on churches and farms in Europe and in America. The oldest weathervane known to exist is the Gallo di Ramperto, in the Museo di Santa Guilia in Brescia, Italy (thought to date between 820 and 830 AD).
For the truly curious:
Zuiderkerk website (in Dutch): https://www.pgenkhuizen.nl/ons-gebouw/
Southern Church, Enkhuizen at Wikipedia (in English): https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderkerk_(Enkhuizen)
Another weathervane seen in Enkhuizen: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/05/enkhuizen-gatehouse-netherlands-for.html
Click here to see over 550 more Weathervane Wednesday posts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday
----------------------
To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Zuiderkerk, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 18, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/zuiderkerk-enkhuisen-netherlands-for.html: accessed [access date]).
