Our streetline panorama shows the west front of the Keizersgracht between the Reestraat (left) and the Westermarkt with the Westerkerk (right). You can find more views of the Keizersgracht in our archive.
Church of Our Lady
Dominating the centre of the block is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). It was built in 1852-1854 on behalf of the Roman Catholic order of the Redemptorists. The neo-Gothic building was designed by architect Theo Molkenboer, the most important church builder in the north of the Netherlands at the time, who modelled his design on the Redemptorist church in Bergen, Belgium. The church was built right next to the Redemptorist monastery at Keizersgracht 218.
In 1985, the Redemptorists left the city and the church was bought by the Syrian Orthodox. Today, in addition to the Syrian Orthodox community in Amsterdam, the church is also used by a Dutch Roman Catholic community, which is looked after by priests from Opus Dei, and by the Surinamese Roman Catholic community.
On the right-hand side of the picture we also see the Westerkerk, built in 1620-1631 in the Renaissance style and designed by Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621). After his death, the church building was finnished under the direction of his son Pieter de Keyser (1595-1676). The west tower is famous, nicknamed “Long Jan” or “The Old Wester”, and at 85 metres is the tallest church tower in Amsterdam. It is crowned by the imperial crown of Maximilian I.
For the panorama, there are further unedited series of images of the three street blocks to the left up to the corner of Leidsegracht. If you are interested in further processing, please contact us.
