The Oude Kerk is Amsterdam's oldest stone building, originally built in the 13th and 14th century. It is located in the oldest part of Amsterdam, from which the city began to spread out.
The Oude Kerk is placed right in the middle of the Amsterdam redlight district. You find hookers offering their services in a very visual fashion literally right across the street from the church.
The Oude Kerk was originally dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of seamen - and later bakers as well. This stopped in 1578 when the protestant Calvinist sect gained religious power in The Netherlands and took over the church. They did their best to destroy the remnants of the catholic period, so you only find a few remains today - the wallpaintings in the vaults, which had been painted over several times but have been recovered.
Apart from the very visible spire, the church has some beautiful stained-glass mary-windows from around 1550. The Oude Kerk is also famous for its old Vater-Müller organ which was ordered in 1724 with the Hamburg organ builder Christian Vater and installed in 1726, and then reinstalled and further improved by Caspar Müller after it had to be removed in 1738 because the tower was beginning to subside. When The New Church was built on the Dam Square next to the Royal Palace, the two churches were in direct competition for funds, and this has continued since. It got so bad that Oude Kerk had to close its doors in 1951 because it was in danger of collapsing. A private foundation was founded in 1955 to restore the church, and after 24 years of restauration the church was re-opened again on March 14, 1979.
If you have read the book "Until I find you" by John Irving, then you are familiar with the Oude Kerk and the Vater-Müller organ - they play an important part in the story. The main character Jack Burns is traveling around Europe with his mother Alice, with the tattoo name Daughter Alice, visiting the most famous church organs, because his father William Burns is an accomplished organ player and plays several of them during his tour of Europe. It's a bit complicated - you need to read the book to get the full story.
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One of the organs Jack's father plays is the Vater-Müller organ, which he plays so loudly late at night that the prostitutes around the church are at first annoyed and then taken in by the powerful music that can be heard clearly outside the church.
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