De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

Today I visited De Oude Kerk (The Old Church) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  The building was constructed around 1300 and is still in use as a church, among other pursuits.  Currently the Church houses an art exhibit from the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy.

The floor is comprised of gravestones.  Wealthy people paid to be buried inside the Church.  A computer database exists of the burials for your use within the church or online.  Stones and records can be found for burials from the 1500s through the 1800s.

Floor of gravestones, with the buried underneath.

Backer Family side by side for centuries.

You can look up graves by their location within the Church.

You can also browse or search names.  Keep in mind that spellings were not uniform.

Gravestones could be used again by scratching off someone's name.

Close-up of removed inscription of a prior occupant.

The room of the Graeff grave is occupied by this piece of artwork.

Art display:  an unmade bed.

Partial gravestone.

Dangling art.

More art.

Note written on napkin on side of kiddie pool.
I do not know if this is part of the art.

Art display.

Art display of dirt, not a fresh burial.

Me on the stairs inside the Church.  No heat.

Copper plaques from coffins.

Plaque from coffin.
Ida Cornelia Deutz, wife of
Robbert Jan Neel
died 4 March 1807

Amsterdam of Yesteryear Today

Today I toured the canals of Amsterdam on a boat.  Created in the 1600s, the canals helped Amsterdam grow in population and trade, enabling merchandise and people easier access to the area.  Narrow structures were built along the canals as warehouses to hold goods and to house sailors and their families.  Amsterdam requires that the front facades of these buildings be preserved, enabling us to envision how the area looked hundred of years ago.

Houses are narrow but long and tall.  The wider the house, the higher the tax.
A hook at the top of the house is used to pull up or lower down heavy items through the large windows,
a method still used to this day.

Houses did not have numbers until the 1800s.
Residences were distinguished by the design of the glass above the front door.
The lower door in the middle was for servants.

Before houses were numbered, a tradesman could distinguish his residence by a plaque.

The houses along the canals have been esthetically maintained over the centuries.
Amsterdam is below sea level.  The houses shift and lean.

Visit to the Anne Frank House

Today I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  The museum is next to the actual building where Anne Frank, her family, and four others hid from the Nazis during World War II until their discovery in August of 1944.  You can walk through the front house, which was used as a warehouse and offices by Anne's father, Otto, and then through the small door, covered by a bookcase, to enter the secret second house where the eight people lived to avoid transportation to concentration camps.  Anne wrote her now famous diary and other stories while in hiding.  Some of the actual pages, written in Dutch, are on display.  The papers were not seized by the Nazis during the raid and an employee of Anne's father safely kept them and returned them to him.  Only Otto survived.

Pictures are not permitted to be taken inside the buildings.

Knowing the fate of Anne and her family, the mood inside was sombre.  Rooms contained clips of Anne's writing, telling of the stress of the situation and Anne's fear of being discovered, which we knew became reality.

The rooms of refuge no longer contain furniture, but magazine and newspaper clippings that Anne used to decorate the walls remain.  The interior is dim and the windows blacked out to replicate the darkness and seclusion incurred by needing the drapes closed at all times.

The set-up of the house into a front and back amazes me.  The rear of the front house has windows that overlook a courtyard.  There is really no indication that several more rooms exist in the back of the house, accessible by only a tiny door, easily concealed.

Me in front of 263 Prinsengracht, Amsterdam

Anne Frank Huis

Anne wrote about the bells of the church in the background.

A memorial for Anne Frank at the church.

Another memorial for Anne Frank in her neighborhood, Merwedeplein.