We arrived in Amsterdam on Good Friday, the start of the Easter Holiday. I have been telling you about my Viking River Cruise along the Rhine River for a few posts now and you can read about visiting the Olde Center District, the Architecture and the Damrak in previous posts. Because of the holiday, we didn’t plan on visiting any of the historic churches, but we did happen upon two and took a few pictures.
The churches that we saw towered over the Olde Center. The first was the Basilica of St. Nicholas. It is the city’s major Catholic Church.
It dates to the 1880’s, which is not that old for this city, and features Neo-Baroque and Neo Renaissance architecture.
When we did get close enough to take pictures, there were long lines of people waiting to enter. It was Good Friday after all and we knew if we waited we would miss seeing as much as we could in the little time that we had.
I love these arches. So beautiful. And anyone that knows me knows that I am a sucker for old churches, graveyards and cool architecture. This was right up my alley.
The façade features a rose window, as many of this type of church does, and inside the church is the Crown of Maximilian I. The crown symbol can be found all throughout Amsterdam.
And here is one last shot taken as we walked to the other side of the Olde Center along one of the canals. As you can tell from these pictures, we had moments of blue sky and sun and then clouds and the threat of rain. But, really, it was a lovely day to tour the city.
The next church that we saw was Oude Kerk, or the Old Church. It’s tower reached high above the rooftops of all the other old buildings.
Oude Kerk is Amsterdam’s oldest building and church, founded around 1213. It is a Calvinist church surrounded by Oudekerksplein, the Old Church Square and there are lots of little shops and other interesting buildings built here.
The church started as a wooden chapel and later was replaced by a stone church.
I love everything about this picture of the church: the door, the bikes, the moss growing on the stone and the lamp post.
Here you can see the little crowns that top the lamp posts. They really are everywhere in Amsterdam.
Such a beautiful old, old church.
And here is a closer look at the detail and craftsmanship in the decoration above the door.
I love all the different levels of rooflines in this picture.
And here you can see the tower that we saw from across the city from the ground.
As you can see here, there have been multiple additions throughout the centuries. There are many different types of architecture present.
The church itself covers a huge area and is said to be built on a sturdy mound, one of the sturdiest in the city. Remember, Amsterdam, is a marshy area and like much of Holland is situated below sea level. It is only natural that the church be built on solid ground.
It is a beautiful church, I wish we could have gone inside. But, there were other things to see this day in Amsterdam.
Like De Wallen, which unfortunately surrounds Oude Kerk. But that will have to wait until the next post.
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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