Sint Jansbrug (lit. "Bridge of Saint John") is a coed

student society A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university, college, or other educational institution, whose membership t ...

in the city of

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, founded in 1947. , it has roughly 650 members, and owns three historic buildings in the , a street in the centre of Delft. All are national heritage sites.Engelbert Hendrik Kuile (1967) ''Delftse studiën: Een bundel historische opstellen over de stad Delft''. p. 423 The society is mid-sized and more accessible than the largest student fraternities in Delft, while retaining traditions and

mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...

. It offers cheap student dinners for both members and non-members, as well as coffee and tea in a coffee-bar called Oele which becomes a bar on Friday evenings. Pand Sint Jansbrug Oude Delft 50 52

History

Sint Jansbrug was founded on 15 October 1947 by a number of students who lived together in Oude Delft 89 and could not connect with any of the existing student associations. Sint Jansbrug moved twice in the first 10 years. In 1952 to the Schuttersdoelen and in 1955 to one of the current buildings, Oude Delft 52. The neighbouring building Oude Delft 50 was bought in 1985 and joined with Oude Delft 52 in 1990. The neighbouring building Oude Delft 54 was bought in 2014, and has been converted to student housing for members of Sint Jansbrug. Sint Jansbrug was in 1969 the first student association in Delft that allowed women to become members next to men. Sint Jansbrug has since become open international students. In honour of the 50th anniversary the members of Sint Jansbrug build “de nieuwe Sint Jansbrug” (lit. "the new Bridge of Saint John"). For a year it stood over the Oude Delft after which it was moved to a permanent location in a nearby park. On 1 October 2007, at the opening event for 60 year anniversary, a world record was established by opening 520 bottles of champagne at the same time. This received international media attention, including from American broadcaster ABC .

Jaarclubs

Each year's new members of Sint Jansbrug form a (year group), most of which meet weekly on Tuesdays. There are men's, women's, and mixed jaarclubs, with approximately 11–15 members each.

Gilden

Sint Jansbrug also has 13 recognised ''gilden'' (guilds). Although the name is derived from the historical

craft guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

, within Sint Jansbrug a gilde consists of members from different years who share similar interests. Membership is by invitation and open only to those in the second year or above. Not every member of Sint Jansbrug is invited to join a gilde, and not everyone invited becomes a member of the gilde.

In books and film

The fraternity's history has been summarized in the 1997 book ''Broederlijcken Liiefde'' and the 2007 documentary film ''Liieve Leden''.

References

External links

Official webpage
{{Rijksmonument, 12071 Student societies in the Netherlands Delft University of Technology Rijksmonuments in Delft