This Italian Renaissance-style house was grandly renovated in 1680 by Jewish refugee Isaac de Pinto, a grandee who escaped the Inquisition in Portugal to come to Amsterdam and become one of the founders of the East India Company. Six towering Italianate pilasters break up the impressive facade, remodeled by Elias Bouwman in the 1670s. In the early 1970s it was almost demolished so that the street could be widened, but activist squatters saved the building. The Pintohuis is now a public library. Feel free to wander around and admire its lush and historic interior—in particular its cherub-encrusted ceiling painting by Jacob de Wit, a 17th-century master.
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