De Lichtwijzer

In 1630, a clandestine church was dedicated to John the Baptist behind three houses on the Hoge Gouwe. That church still exists, but after a major renovation in 1863 it was given its current facade. The church is rich in interior pieces and liturgical objects, some of which even date from before the Reformation. Lack of contact with the church in Rome led to new ideas emerging among Dutch Catholics. It led to the heated debate between the 'Jansenists' and the established church in 1723 to the split from the Old Catholic Church. Pastor I. Walvis (1653 - 1714) of this church is still known in Gouda as the writer of the first city history in 1713.

Historic medieval chapel with a turret on the front facade. The Saint-Josse Chapel (also Joostkapel) has been the Evangelical Lutheran Church on the corner of the Lage Gouwe and the Groenendaal in Gouda since 1682. The Saint-Josse Chapel dates from the 15th century. The chapel was dedicated to Saint Josse, the patron saint of the peat and sack carriers in Gouda. He was invoked as an intercessor and helper in impending births. After the Reformation in 1572, the chapel was first used as a peat barn and from 1577 as a storage space for fire buckets and ladders. In 1680, the building, excluding the tower with clock, was sold by the city council for 400 ducatons to the Evangelical Lutheran Community. They restored the building and officially took it into use as a church in 1682. The church building was restored in 1762, 1790, 1806, 1838 and 1869. During the restoration of 1838, the windows were enlarged and the stained glass windows were sold. During the restoration of 1869, the tower was demolished because the street in front of the church was lowered to make room for a movable bridge over the Gouwe. The most extensive restoration was that of 1957. The church was almost completely demolished and rebuilt. On the front facade, a blind window shows the location of the former church tower. The new front facade was crowned with a projecting turret. Nowadays, an Evangelical Lutheran service is held in the Sint-Joostkapel every other Sunday morning. The Sint-Joostkapel can also be rented for weddings and funeral services and small concerts.

A former Baptist church was bought by the Jewish community of Gouda in the year 1798. The building was reused as a synagogue but had to be demolished in 1823 because of structural deterioration. A new synagogue was built on the same site and was consecrated in 1827. The front façade features eclectic architectural elements. This façade is provided with Neo-Gothic pointed arched windows and a Neo-Classical ornamented entrance.
After the Second World War, the Jewish community of Gouda was too small to sustain their own synagogue. The building was sold in 1950 and only the women's gallery remained in the interior of the building. The design of both the original women's gallery and the Torah ark was probably influenced by the designs of the furniture in the synagogue in Leiden. The pointed arched windows, located near the former Torah ark, were walled up to suit the new church organ. In use until WWII, this brick synagogue has been sold after the war and now serves as a church.