Page 56 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Amsterdam

54 ❯❯ The Top 10 of Everything

Churches

De Krijtberg
Oude Kerk
1 5
The oldest and greatest of
MAP M5 • Singel 448
Amsterdam’s churches (see pp34–5). • Open 1–5pm Tue–Thu and Sat–Sun;
English mass 5:15pm Sat
Nieuwe Kerk
2 • www.krijtberg.nl
Like many Catholic churches in
The second parish church
in Amsterdam was built after the Amsterdam, De Krijtberg (meaning
congregation outgrew the Oude Chalk Mountain) is known by its
Kerk. After a fire in 1645, its oldest nickname rather than its official name,
surviving part is the choir, dating Franciscus Xaveriuskerk (after
from around 1400 (see p41 and p87). St Francis Xavier, a founding Jesuit
monk); designed in 1884 by Alfred
Tepe, it replaced a clandestine Jesuit
chapel (see p25). It has an elegant,
twin-steepled Neo-Gothic façade and
an ornate interior that stands in
marked contrast to the austerity of
the city’s Protestant churches.
Noorderkerk
6
MAP D2 • Noor dermarkt 48
• Open 10:30am–12:30pm Mon,
11am–1pm Sat (also open for regular
afternoon concerts on Sat )
• www.noorderkerk.org
Hendrick de Keyser’s last church,
begun a year before he died in 1621
(its completion was supervised by his
son Pieter), is quite different in style
from the Zuiderkerk and Westerkerk.
Built for the poor of the Jordaan, it is
Westerkerk an austere brick building with only
the shortest of spires. Designed on
Westerkerk
3 a Greek Cross plan, it has a central
pulpit and four hipped roofs.
After the Alteration of 1578
(see p25), the first Dutch Protestant
churches to be built were the
Zuiderkerk, the Noorderkerk and
the Westerkerk – all designed by
Hendrick de Keyser. The Westerkerk
has the city’s tallest tower, topped by
the gaily painted imperial crown of
Maximilian of Austria (see p95).
Zuiderkerk
4
The splendid spire, with its
columns, clocks, pinnacles and onion
dome, was much admired by Sir
Christopher Wren, and is still a
prominent city landmark, with great
views over the city from the tower.
The Zuiderkerk ceased to function
as a church in 1929 (see p85). Noorderkerk

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