The Oude Kerk - Oldest Church in Amsterdam

As is almost always the case for Jim and me when we arrive in a new city, we find ourselves on that first tired morning drawn toward the peace and beauty of a cathedral or basilica.  In Amsterdam, we found ourselves inside the 800 year old Oude Kerk (Old Church).  The church is Amsterdam’s oldest building and oldest parish church, founded as a Catholic church around 1213 and consecrated in 1306 by the bishop of Utrecht and Saint Nicolas is its patron saint.

The original wooden church was replaced by the present Gothic structure in the 14th century.  It grew from a modest single aisled church into the large basilica it is today and began life as a gathering place for traders and a refuge for the poor.  This changed in 1578 after “The Alteration” when after the defeat of Spain during the Dutch Revolt; the church was taken over by the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church.  The homeless and traders were evicted in 1681 and the church was strictly used for Protestant services.

Sadly, during the Dutch Revolt, the church was looted and defaced on numerous occasions, and most of the church art and furnishings, were destroyed. Only the gilded paintings on the wooden ceiling, which were unreachable and some of the stained glass windows were spared. 

Even without all the original elaborate decoration, the vaulted space is impressive and serves its purpose creating a place of peace and spiritual contemplation.

One of the most decorative items in the Oude Kerk is the Great Organ created by Christian Vater which was installed in 1724. It has 4000 pipes and is one of three organs installed in the Kerk.

The stone floor is covered with gravestones. The church was built on a cemetery and local citizens continued to be buried on the site within the confines of the church until 1865. There are 2500 graves in the Oude Kerk, many of them are the graves of famous citizens, war heroes and important city officials.

My favorite part of the Oude Kerk, were the Misericords (mercy seats, leaning posts).  These are small wooden shelves on the underside of a folding seat in the choir of a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.  These particular misericords were decorated with grotesques, parables, warnings against bad behavior and just plain funny carvings!

Rembrandt was a frequent visitor to the Oude Kerk; his children were all christened in the church and his wife Saskia is buried in the church. It is the only building in Amsterdam that remains in its original state since Rembrandt walked its aisles.  I tried to take a moment to imagine what it might have been like to stand in this beautiful space way back in the days of the Dutch Renaissance.  The Oude Kerk might be one of the best places in Amsterdam to experience such a feeling.

Outside the church, you notice that this holy place is smack in the middle of the red-light district of Amsterdam where prostitutes offer their services from behind windows. This is a situation which most visitors find rather ironic. 

Behind the church near the apse end, a small courtyard lined with a few small shops, restaurants and bars provides a shady place to sit and enjoy a quiet drink or snack.  If you look carefully, you can find a bronze relief of a hand caressing a breast that was set in the cobblestone at night by an anonymous artist.  In the center of the courtyard is a bronze statue named Belle honoring the prostitutes of the world.  It was installed in 2007.

Amsterdam is a city of wonderful idiosyncrasies and the beautiful Oude Kerk with its surrounding square is one them.