Saturday, May 23, 2020

Crown on Westerkirk, Amsterdam



This is the crown on the steeple of the Westerkirk in Amsterdam. Here is a short history of the church from Wikipedia: Westerkirk.
The Westerkerk was built between 1620 and 1631 in Renaissance style according to designs by architect Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621). He is buried in the church he designed earlier: the 'Zuiderkerk'. The building of the Westerkerk was finished and completed by his son Pieter de Keyser (1595-1676) and inaugurated on June 8, 1631. The church has a length of 58 meters and a width of 29 meters. The high nave is flanked by the two lower aisles. The three-aisled basilica has a rectangular plan with two transepts of equal dimensions. As a result, the plan for this church was given the form of two Greek crosses connected with each other. (a patriarchal cross).

Several older churches in Amsterdam, such as Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk, were originally built before the Reformation and were converted to Protestantism during the Reformation in 1578. The Westerkerk was one of the first purposely built Protestant churches. The Noorderkerk and Zuiderkerk preceded the Westerkerk. Today the Westerkerk remains the largest church in the Netherlands that was built for Protestants, and is still in use by the PKN (Protestantse Kerk in Nederland)

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