The Other Map of Amsterdam | Map

Christianity Protestant

Organ shutter

1686

Although slavery was banned in the Republic, many enslaved people lived in Amsterdam in the 17th century.

Location

Westerkerk
Prinsengracht 281

Type

Church

Religious community

Protestant Church in Amsterdam, formerly known as Dutch Reformed Church

Object

Image of a black man, detail at lower right on right organ hatch

Maker and date

Gerard de Lairesse
1686

Visit

To be viewed on location

Current interior

Current exterior

Statue commemorating Elieser, who died on 27 March 1629, and the other kidnapped and enslaved Africans, who found their final resting place here.

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+ Author

Vera Mijnheer
Employee Protestant Church Amsterdam

Thanks to

Ds. Herman Koetsveld
Pastor of the Westerkerk

Cristina Pumplun
Vicar of the Westerkerk

Last edited

October 14, 2024

+ Images and credits

King Solomon receiving the Queen of Seba (detail), Gerard de Lairesse, 1686, oil on canvas, 544 x 316 cm. Collection Protestant Church Amsterdam. Photography Robert Westera.

Interior and exterior: photography Robert Westera.

Elieser, Erwin de Vries, 2013, bronze. Photography Robert Westera.

+ Literature

Balai, L., Geschiedenis van de Amsterdamse Slavenhandel (Amsterdam 2013).

Hagoort, L., Het Beth Haim in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. De begraafplaats van de Portugese joden in Amsterdam 1614-1945 (Hilversum 2005).

Ponte, M., ‘Al de swarten die hier ter stede comen'. Een Afro-Atlantische gemeenschap in zeventiende-eeuws Amsterdam’, Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History 15 (2019) 33-62.

Rossum, M. van en K. Fatah-Black, ‘Slavery in a “Slave Free Enclave”? Historical Links between the Dutch Republic, Empire and Slavery, 1580s-1860s’, Werkstatt Geschichte 66-67 (2014) 55-74.

Zakula, T., Reforming Dutch Art: Gerard de Lairesse on Beauty, Morals and Class (Utrecht 2013).