Our Lord in the Attic, Amsterdam
Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Amsterdam)
This is something absolutely amazing, extraordinary! In the center of Amsterdam, on the corner of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and the Heintje Hoekssteeg streets, there is a building containing a secret and hidden church !!!
The house was bought in 1661 by hosiery merchant Jan Hartman and from the outside it looks like an ordinary house, facing a canal, 4 stories high. What makes the building extraordinary is that Mr. Hartman built a Roman Catholic church in the attic of the house!
This church has been built after the Reformation time, when Catholics were no longer allowed to hold public Holy Masses and was dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
This is the original main entrance of the church.
It looks like a normal house with a corridor and some living rooms. On the ground floor there is a room with a fireplace
and a fully functional kitchen
Some very steep wooden stairs lead to the second floor of the building
where there is an amazing room for receiving important guests
and the bedrooms.
That is, at first sight it would appear to be a very normal house.
The magic happens when you go up to the third floor. Here, completely unexpected, to your astonished eyes a church will appear out of nowhere!!!
The work required to achieve this must have been immense. The wooden beams that originally separated the third floor, the fourth floor and the attic have been cut to create an environment with a very high ceiling, typical of church naves.
However, on the sides of the church, wooden balconies were built, surprisingly very resistant and without pillars, capable of accomodate the faithful.
The altar is enormous
and there is also an organ!!
This is the church as seen from the attic, in all its glory. Simply unbelievable O_o
and this is the view of the city from the attic
Moreover, there are also chapels with statues of saints, a confessional ...
In Amsterdam there were many secret churches where religious ceremonies were secretly held. However this is the most beautiful and best preserved church.
Our Lord in the Attic is absolutely magnificent and well worth a visit. I had never seen such a thing before.
The only downside is that the stairs to the third floor are very steep and difficult to go up/down. In the past, especially for not super young people, it must not have been easy to reach the third floor to follow the ceremony.
