Begijnhof Audio Guide

Begijnhof: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Begijnhof

   Welcome to the Begijnhof, one of the quietest corners of Amsterdam's busy old center. You are standing inside the Singel, the innermost canal of the city's ring of canals, and the courtyard sits close to the Spui. Step through and the city noise seems to fade behind the houses. The Begijnhof is one of the oldest hofjes in Amsterdam, and it is the only inner court in the city that was founded in the Middle Ages. A hofje is a courtyard ringed by homes. This one began as a béguinage, a community for beguines. They were lay women who lived a religious life together without becoming nuns. Today the courtyard is mostly private dwellings, with two churches among them: the Catholic Miracle Church and the English Reformed Church. Here is something to notice as you walk. The court lies at medieval street level, which is about a meter below the rest of the old center. You are literally walking down into the past. Over the next few stops we will look at the beguines and their world, the wooden house and the mix of facades, and the clever way this Catholic enclave survived a Protestant takeover.

2. 02

   Who Were the Beguines?

   Let's start with the women who gave this place its name. The Begijnhof was not a typical Amsterdam almshouse paid for by a wealthy private donor. It was closer to a convent, though the beguines enjoyed more freedom than nuns did. They took a vow of chastity, but they could leave the court at any moment, for instance to marry. No one knows exactly when the community was founded. A courtyard is first mentioned in 1389. Historians suggest the city's rising religious status after the Amsterdam Eucharistic Miracle of 1345 may have played a part. The ground itself was a project. Up to the Spui everything was swamp, and over the years the beguines filled it with rubble, garbage and sand to make a solid foundation. In the early days the whole court was surrounded by water: the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, the Spui and a ditch called the Begijnensloot. The only entrance was by a bridge at the Begijnensteeg, the Beguines' Alley. The most famous beguine of all is Sister Cornelia Arens. She professed her vows on 6 July 1621 and died on 14 October 1654. She considered the chapel desecrated by Presbyterians, so she asked to be buried in the gutter of the court instead. Legend says she was laid to rest in the chapel anyway, but her coffin was found in the gutter the next day.

3. 03

   Wood, Brick and a Parade of Facades

   Now look at the houses. The Begijnhof is unusual in Amsterdam because its facades come in so many types: staircase, bell, neck, spout and frame. From 1417 onwards the court was expanded with many houses, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries most of the original Gothic facades were replaced. Tall townhouses in the Amsterdam style give the court its almost private feel. It is even the only hofje where the houses use the name of the court as their address. Then there is the Wooden House, Het Houten Huis, at Begijnhof number 34. Its front and back facades are made entirely of wood, and it is one of the oldest houses in Amsterdam. The Begijnhof's own history dates it to before the second great city fire of 1452, and inside, the entire Gothic timber frame is still present. Other accounts give different dates, from around 1420 to around 1528. Dutch sources also point out its stone side walls and a characteristic overhanging medieval attic floor. Why is it such a rarity? Amsterdam banned timber houses in 1521 after a series of catastrophic fires. Wooden-fronted houses like this one are now a precious exception in the old center.

4. 04

   A Miracle, a Reformation and Two Churches

   To understand the churches here, go back to 1345. In that year, the story goes, a sick man in the Kalverstraat received the Host, the consecrated bread of the Mass, and it became the Miracle of Amsterdam. Pilgrims began to flow to the city. For generations a procession, the Sacramentsprocessie, was held every year around 15 March, and it lasted until 1578. That year came the Alteratie, when Amsterdam turned Protestant. The city government took over the many monasteries and churches. The Begijnhof, however, could stay Catholic, because it was private property. Miracle devotion carried on here, and the court has even been called the second Heilige Stede, the Holy Place, after the city chapel that had been the original center of the miracle. In 1665 came the first plans for the Catholic chapel you see today. The city approved them on one condition: from the outside, it must not look like a church. The architect was Philips Vingboons, who in 1671 converted two houses into a hidden church for Saints John and Ursula, the patron saints of the court. After the old Chapel of the Holy Place was demolished in 1908, this became officially the Miracle Church. Opposite stands the English Reformed Church, which traces its roots to the late fourteenth century. A chapel stood on the north side of the court in 1397, and building of a new church began on the present site in 1417.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Take one more slow lap of the court before you leave. Notice the green space in the middle and how the houses seem to lean in around it. Try to spot the different facade shapes, and see whether you can pick out the Wooden House among its brick neighbors. Then think about the story you have walked through: women who made firm ground out of swamp, a city that changed its faith around them, and a plain chapel front that was designed to look like an ordinary house. A courtyard this old has plenty of layers, and the alley entrance and the mix of old and later facades reward a second look. When you step back out into the crowds, keep that one-meter drop in mind. The medieval street level is still here, just below the modern city. What else in Amsterdam, you might wonder, is hiding in plain sight?