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Westerkerk Review

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Westerkerk

Address: Prinsengracht 281, (corner of Westermarkt), Centrum, Amsterdam | Map It
Phone: 020/624-7766; 020/689-2565
www.westerkerk.nl

Western Church

Category: Religious Sites
Location: Canal Ring

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Fodor's Review:

Built between 1602 and 1631 by Hendrick de Keyser, the Dutch Renaissance Westerkerk was the largest Protestant church in the world until the St. Paul's Cathedral in London was built. Its tower is topped by a gaudy copy of the crown of the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I (or, rather, to avoid a potential bar brawl, a later model of the crown used by Rudolph II). Maximilian gave Amsterdam the right to use his royal insignia in 1489 in gratitude for help from the city in his struggle for control of the Low Countries, and the crown's "XXX" marking was quickly exploited by the city's merchants as a visiting card of quality.

The tower rates as the city's highest. Its gigantic bell rings every half hour but with a different tone to mark the half before the hour—in other words, the 12 rings of 11:30 are different from the rings of 12. The playing of the church's organ, which still occurs every Tuesday between noon and 1, is often mentioned in the diary of Anne Frank. Another immortal, Rembrandt, lived nearby on Rozengracht 188 during his poverty-stricken last years. He (as well as his son, Titus) was buried in the church in an unmarked grave on October 4, 1669. Rembrandt's posthumous reputation inspired some very surreal television three centuries later, when a body was unearthed that was mistakenly thought to be his. While exposed to the glare of the news cameras, the skull turned to dust.

Cost: Free
Open: Tower Jun.-Sept., Tues., Wed., Fri., and Sat. 2-5; interior Apr.-Sept., Mon.-Fri. 11-3; tower by appointment

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