The Nieuwe Kerk or New Church is one of the most cultic buildings in Amsterdam. The Church is located in the middle of the city centre at Dam Square next to the Royal Palace.
The Nieuwe Kerk had been under construction since 1380, when Willem Eggert, a rich citizen, banker and city council member who was a financial expert by William VI of Holland, granted his orchard to build the St. Catherine's Church. It was finished in 70 years and since then for about six hundred years people have habitually called it the New Church.
The Church was damaged by the city fires of 1421 and 1452 and burned down almost entirely in 1645. Today, its architecture combines different styles. The northern facade has gothic tall lancet windows and renaissance elegant shells and triangle frontons. There are many baroque elements in the interior.
The Nieuwe Kerk is intimately related to both the city's everyday life and to its official history. For centuries, the Church tower's sundial was used to set all the city's clocks, whereas for almost a century citizens threw copper coins into a can on the church porch to donate for a new bell tower, which was never built in the end, because the money went to the construction of another building — Amsterdam City Hall.
When visiting the Church, one should pay special attention to the amazingly beautiful altar and to the carved ceiling above, which only by miracle was spared during the 1645 fire, as well as to the very beautiful stained-glass windows. In the Church were buried Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, an admiral of the Dutch navy, and the famous poet Joost van den Vondel, who is considered the Dutch Shakespeare.
Besides the tombstones, one should take a look at the organ, the wooden "body" of which was designed in 1670 by Jacob van Campen, the author of the Royal Palace, and to the carved redwood pulpit, which features symbolic figures of Faith, Hope, Justice and Parsimony and is made by the virtuoso Baroque master Albert Finkenbrink (1649).
In 1892 to 1914, the Church underwent major repairs, which added many Neo-Gothic details.
Another redesign was done in 1959 to 1980.
The Church is very rarely used for church services. It mainly hosts exhibitions, concerts and solemn events. The Church also hosts the coronation ceremonies of the Dutch monarchs.
The Westerkerk ("western church") is considered to be the best work by Hendrick de Keyser. Its construction started in 1620 and finished in 1631, ten years after the prominent Amsterdam architect died.
The Church has been reconstructed and rebuilt several times. However, the original appearance has been mainly kept. The Westerkerk was built in t...
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