De Rode Hoed: Event venue in Grachtengordel, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.4

Rode Hoed is a stage for debate, lectures and ideas in a 17th-century hidden church on the Keizersgracht in the centre of Amsterdam. Go for evenings on politics, philosophy, technology and society, then carry on the argument at the bar. A small editorial team develops its own formats and invites thinkers and partner organisations to shape programmes with them. Rough debate alternates with quieter conversation, and the audience is actively involved. The house is free of political or religious colour, and the people meeting at the bar afterwards can range from activists to young conservative thinkers and CEOs. Most public programmes take place in the Oosterhuiszaal, the main hall on the ground floor, and some are streamed live and kept in the online archive. A small red hat in the façade recalls the hat maker who first occupied the site. Remonstrants, who could not worship openly, built a hidden church in the garden behind in 1630 and used it until the 1950s. In 1989 poet and theologian Huub Oosterhuis gave the empty building new life as a centre for religion, meaning and poetry, and later the focus shifted to public debate. Ekklesia services still take place in the old church. Since 2017 Rode Hoed has been part of Amerpodia, with De Nieuwe Liefde and Felix Meritis. Tickets are sold online and at the box office from an hour before the programme, which is also when you can join the waiting list for a sold-out night. Food is only available if the programme page says so. Trams 2, 12 and 17 stop at Nieuwezijds Kolk, 450 metres away, and trams 13 and 17 at Westermarkt, also 450 metres. Buses 18, 21 and 22 stop at Buiten Brouwersstraat, 600 metres away. You can also moor here by boat.