De Letters van Utrecht is a poem that never ends, carved letter by letter into the paving stones of the wharf along the Oudegracht canal. Every Saturday a stonemason cuts one new letter into the next stone, and the plan is to keep going for as long as there are Saturdays. The text grows by roughly five metres a year, and nobody but the current poet knows what the next words will be.
De Letters van Utrecht at a glance
- Where: on the canal-side wharf of the Oudegracht in the city centre; the line of letters starts near Lange Smeestraat.
- Created: opened on 2 June 2012, with the first 648 stones laid at once, one for every Saturday since 1 January 2000.
- By: poets of the Utrecht Guild of City Poets, with a typeface designed for the project by Hanneke Verheijke and letters cut by the stonemasons of the Lettertijd guild.
- What it is today: a living work of public art, run by a non-profit foundation of volunteers and paid for by people who sponsor individual letters.
- Time needed: 15–20 minutes to walk the line and read a few stones; longer if you time your visit for the Saturday carving.
A poem for people who are not born yet
The first part of the poem was written by Ruben van Gogh, Ingmar Heytze, Chrétien Breukers, Alexis de Roode and Ellen Deckwitz. Every few years another poet takes over: Mark Boog in 2013, the Iraqi-Dutch poet Baban Kirkuki in 2015, Vicky Francken in 2018, Anne Broeksma in 2022 and Hanneke van Eijken from 2025. At the opening, Utrecht's then mayor Aleid Wolfsen helped make letter 649, the first one cut on location.
The project grew out of the idea of thinking in generations rather than news cycles. It was inspired by the Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Clock, and that foundation sent a stone from the Sierra Diablo mountains in Texas, where the clock is being built; it now carries letter number 1, a "J". Stones with year numbers mark the route ahead, so the line also works as a ruler of time, and if the project lasts long enough the poem will one day trace the letters U and T on the city map.
What to look for
- The letters themselves: one character per stone, cut into the paving in a typeface made only for this poem.
- The sides of the stones, where sponsors have had a name or dedication engraved in return for funding a letter.
- The year stones that mark the route the poem will take in the future, well beyond the last carved letter.
- The newest letter at the end of the line, often still sharper and paler than the older, worn stones.
- On a Saturday early afternoon, the stonemason at work, cutting that week's letter by hand.
Reading the poem
The text is in Dutch and runs on without line breaks, so it takes patience to read on site. Translations of earlier parts have been published, including one in the Smithsonian Magazine in 2018, and the full text so far is available from the foundation. Reading even a short stretch in place, with the canal next to you, gives a real sense of how slowly the poem grows: an average sentence takes about three years to appear.
Tips for your visit
- Walk the wharf rather than the street above: the letters are at water level, next to the canal and the old wharf cellars.
- Come on a Saturday early afternoon if you want to see a letter being made; on other days the line is quiet and easier to read.
- Watch your step and give way to cyclists and terrace tables on the narrow wharf.
- Combine it with a walk along the Oudegracht to the Dom Tower, a few minutes away.
Nearby
- Dom Tower: the tallest church tower in the Netherlands and the symbol of Utrecht, a short walk north.
- Museum Speelklok: a museum of self-playing musical instruments, from barrel organs to music boxes, housed in a medieval church.
- Oudegracht wharf cellars: the old storage cellars under the street, now cafés and restaurants at water level.
See Utrecht with World City Trail
Our Utrecht scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 46 minutes of walking. De Letters van Utrecht is not one of the stops, but the route includes Museum Speelklok.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Utrecht.
Play the Utrecht scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Utrecht →
Play the outdoor escape game in Utrecht →
Facts checked in October 2026.