Begijnhof, Amsterdam

Begijnhof is a historic inner court enclosed by Amsterdam town houses, with the Catholic Miracle Church and the English Reformed Church also within it. Its most striking survivor is Het Houten Huys, the wooden house at Begijnhof 34, dating from about 1420 and regarded as Amsterdam’s oldest wooden house. The court itself reaches back to the Middle Ages: a document from 1346 records beguines living together, while the courtyard is mentioned by 1389.

The site lies at medieval street level, about a metre below the surrounding old city centre, and it once stood entirely behind water, with the Beguines’ Ditch guarding its rear facades. The residents were religious women who promised chastity but could leave whenever they wished to marry, giving this place a character between a convent and private housing. After the Protestant takeover of 1578, the Begijnhof remained Amsterdam’s sole surviving Catholic institution.

Across from the chapel entrance, Philip Vingboons created a concealed Catholic church in 1671 by joining two homes. As local legend has it, Cornelia Arens insisted on burial in the court’s gutter because she considered the chapel desecrated; after her coffin was repeatedly found there, she was finally buried in the gutter.