A seventeenth-century Catholic church fills the joined upper floors of a canal house and two rear houses. Built by merchant Jan Hartman, it preserves the history of Amsterdam’s tolerated house churches and the community that worshipped here.
Quick facts
Jan Hartman bought the canal house and two properties behind it on 10 May 1661 and joined their upper floors for the church.
The attic church could accommodate about 150 people, according to the museum.
The Amstelkring association opened the building as a museum in 1888 after buying it to preserve the house church.
Get directions to Our Lord in the Attic Museum. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
From the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the story of Our Lord in the Attic is not obvious. The museum occupies a canal house and two smaller houses behind it, joined across their upper floors to make a Catholic church. The arrangement grew from a political change. In 1578 Amsterdam’s Alteration transferred churches and public religious space to Protestant control. Catholics could no longer celebrate Mass openly in official churches, and Catholic worship was confined to private settings.
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