Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
time. The wood stove and the textiles on the walls are re-creations
but look like the originals. In the Dutch custom (still occasion-
ally seen today), the family covered tables with exotic Turkish
rugs imported by traders of the Dutch East India Company. The
Delftware vase would have been filled with tulips, back then still
an exotic and expensive transplant from the East. The tall ceramic
doodad is a multi-armed tulip vase. Its pagoda shape reminds us
that Delftware originally came from China.
Despite the family's wealth, space was tight. In the 1600s,
entire families would often sleep together in small bed cabinets.
They sat up to sleep, because they believed if they lay down, the
blood would pool in their heads and kill them.
The black ebony knickknack cabinet is painted with a scene
right out of the 1600s Red Light District. On the right door, the
Prodigal Son spends his inheritance, making merry with bare-
breasted, scarlet-clothed courtesans—high-rent prostitutes who
could also entertain educated, cello-loving clients. On the left
door, the Prodigal Son has spent it all. He can't pay his bill, and
is kicked out of a cheap tavern—still half-dressed—by a pair of
short-changed prostitutes.
• As you climb the staircase up to the church, you can look through a
window into the small...
Chaplain's Room
Originally the maid's room, this humble bedroom is now furnished
to look as it did in the 1800s, when the church chaplain lived here.
See the tiny bed cabinet decorated with a tiny skull—a reminder
of mortality—and a pipe on the table. Next to the room is the font
used by worshippers to wet their fingers and cross themselves upon
entering the church.
• Continue up to the church.
Our Lord in the Attic Church—Nave and Altar
The church is long and narrow, with an altar at one end, an organ
at the other, and two balconies overhead to maximize the seat-
ing in this relatively small space.
Compared with Amsterdam's
whitewashed Protestant churches,
this Catholic church has touches
of elaborate Baroque decor, with
statues of saints, garlands, and
baby angels. The balconies are
suspended from the ceiling and
held in place by metal rods.
This attic church is certainly
hidden, but everyone knew it was
