Bookstore in a Church in Zwolle, Netherlands: Waanders in de Broeren

This is the second church that I know in the Netherlands that has been converted into a bookstore: Waanders in de Broeren in Zwolle. The other one is in Maastricht and I visited this more than 2 years ago. Here is the post I made: Selexys Dominicanen Maastricht

So I was in Zwolle together with Bru last January. We spent the whole day enjoying the city and visiting 2 churches, for very different reasons though. This is one of the two defunct churches we visited in the eastern city. The second one was a big cathedral converted into a Japanese restaurant. Now that makes you go, WTF!? Stay tuned for this post, soon.

And so it may seem that religion does not have any stronghold anymore here in the Netherlands. It’s all in the past. Bygones. People have moved on and many churches are struggling to make ends meet, not just financially but also in terms of having followers. Very few people go to church and not many believe in a god these days.

There are a good number who are Christians by birth but are not practicing their religion anymore as well. You might ask — Is this a bad thing for the society? Well, I do not think so. We all evolve in time and gain a different perspective as we grow old and traverse through life. But then again I am not a Christian myself, well I used to be, so I may be biased.

Hardbound books, magazines, printed newspapers, bookstores and libraries are also somewhat up the old style alley, so I wonder, until when can this divine bookstore hold out? Unless it starts to diversify with new products and sell online e-books, I will keep my hopes tamed at bay. Just being realistic as we live in different times nowadays.