Oude Kerk: Church in De Wallen, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.3

The Oude Kerk is the oldest building in Amsterdam, a medieval church on the Oudekerksplein in De Wallen that now doubles as a space for contemporary art. Consecrated in 1306 and dedicated to Saint Nicholas, it is a place to see large new work in a bare Gothic hall with some 60,000 people buried under the floor. That bareness is the point. The interior was stripped in the Beeldenstorm of 1566 and again after the Alteratie of 1578, when the city turned Protestant, and the text on the choir screen still marks the change. The stained glass of the Mariakapel from the 1550s came through it, the Vater-Müller organ followed in the 18th century, and a red window by Giorgio Andreotta Calò was added in 2018. Artists are invited to make work that can only be shown here, so the programme changes through the year, alongside concerts and talks. The church is still used for Protestant services on Sunday mornings. A separate tower tour runs from April to October and can only be booked together with a ticket for the church. Payment is by card or digital payment only, in the shop too. Most of the church is wheelchair accessible, but the historic side rooms are not. Centraal is an eight-minute walk away. Trams 2, 12, 13 and 17 stop at Nieuwezijds Kolk, trams 4, 14 and 24 at Dam, and metros 51, 53 and 54 at Nieuwmarkt.