Oude Kerk Audio Guide

Oude Kerk: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Oude Kerk

   Welcome to the Oude Kerk, the Old Church, standing on its own square, the Oudekerksplein, in the historic heart of Amsterdam. It is the oldest parish church in the city and the oldest structure in Amsterdam. That is a bold title for a city that has spent centuries rebuilding itself. Look around as you arrive. This Gothic church sits in the middle of the Red Light District, so you are surrounded by neon windows, passing crowds and the bustle of a neighborhood that never quite sleeps. Yet the building has stood here for the better part of 800 years. It has been a place for praying, marrying, burying, trading and making music, and it still plays several of those roles today. Over the next few stops we will go back to the muddy ground it was built on, follow its journey from Catholic church to Reformed church, meet the famous Amsterdammers who lie beneath your feet, and see how living artists now work inside these ancient walls. Take a slow breath and let the old stones do the talking.

2. 02

   A Chapel on a Muddy Levee

   Every great church has an origin story, and this one begins with water. Where the River Amstel flowed toward the River IJ, it dropped clay sediment and built up low mounds, called levees. In the thirteenth century, the first inhabitants of Amsterdam built a small wooden chapel on one of those mounds, and the same spot also served as a cemetery. The exact date of that first chapel is told two ways. One account says a wooden chapel was standing here by around 1213. Another places a small wooden chapel on the spot around 1250. Either way, it was a modest start. In the second half of the thirteenth century the wood gave way to a stone hall church. After 1300 the people of Amsterdam built a larger Gothic hall church with three aisles, the side aisles narrow but just as tall as the center, and a small rectangular choir. The building became the church of Saint Nicholas on 17 September 1306, when the Bishop of Utrecht consecrated it to the patron saint of sailors. For a town growing up on a river and trading by water, that was a fitting choice. There is an even older story under the floor. In 1963, researchers found a grave holding the remains of a young person who lived roughly between 1150 and 1215, probably one of the first inhabitants of Amsterdam.

3. 03

   From Saint Nicholas to the Old Church

   So why is a church called Saint Nicholas known as the Old Church? Because Amsterdam grew fast. In 1334 the town became an independent parish with its own priest, and this church became its parish church. In 1409 a second great church, the Nieuwe Kerk, rose on the Dam. From then on, people spoke more and more of the Oude Kerk, the old one, and the name stuck. Inside, music mattered. From 1468 until 1578, a college of paid, professional singers was attached to the church. Then came the great upheaval. A drawing of the Beeldenstorm of 1566, the wave of image-breaking, survives in the city archives. In 1578 came the Alteratie, the Reformation in Amsterdam. Following William the Silent's defeat of the Spanish in the Dutch Revolt, the church passed from the Catholic Church to the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church. Its patron saint and its old role changed, but the building and its place in city life carried on. It also stayed a very public space. The church was a meeting place for merchants, and plays were performed here. In this city, trade and faith have always sat close together.

4. 04

   Rembrandt, Admirals and Sixty Thousand Neighbors

   Now look down. Because the church was built on a cemetery, Amsterdammers kept burying their dead here, inside the church itself, until 1865. Around 60,000 people lie beneath more than 2,000 tombstones. The floor of the Oude Kerk is a kind of stone ledger of the city's past. Among the famous names is Rembrandt. He was a frequent visitor to the church, and his children were all christened here. His first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, was buried here in 1642, and a small Rembrandt exhibition in the Holy Sepulchre chapel honors her. Elsewhere you can find the grave monuments of famous admirals, along with a fine organ and a pulpit dating from 1640. Look up as well. The tower dates from the sixteenth century and holds 39 bells, and its carillon is counted among the finest in the country. Since 1724 the church has changed little apart from restorations. The last great restoration ran from 1955 until 1979, probably the longest ever. Generations of Amsterdammers have kept this building going, one repair at a time.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   The Oude Kerk has never been just a monument. For almost 800 years it has been a living part of Amsterdam, where people have prayed, married, traded, listened to music and said their last goodbyes. That tradition continues. Today the church invites artists and musicians to create new works for this one place, so ancient heritage and contemporary art meet under the same Gothic roof. As you step back onto the Oudekerksplein, notice the contrast once more: a medieval church holding its ground among the energy of one of Amsterdam's liveliest neighborhoods. Try to imagine the small wooden chapel on its clay mound, and then the thousands of names under the floor. Whatever you notice next, whether a worn gravestone, the sound of the bells or the way the light falls across the nave, there is more to find. Every visit shows a slightly different layer of this old church.