Monasteries on the ramparts

We can hardly imagine it now, but 600 years ago the Wallen were a swampy area on the outskirts of Amsterdam. That changed from 1393: there was a need for new forms of religious experience, and monasteries were among them. In less than a hundred years, sixteen monasteries are built here. On the spot where prostitution now predominates, people pray and care for the poor and sick.

At the end of the fourteenth century, Amsterdam grows rapidly. At the same time, the new religious movement of the Modern Devotion blows over from Deventer. Citizens start small residential communities with a pious and simple way of life. This causes a wave of monastic foundations in this small area. The city government welcomes it because the ground of the Wallen is too swampy for housing. Rich Amsterdammers pay for the land and the construction of the monasteries. So a kind of island of convents grows - especially for women. Why that is, you'll discover on the walk.

Not much remains of those very first monastery buildings. Most were lost to fire or given another purpose during the Alteration, when Amsterdam became Protestant in 1578. All monasteries were then disbanded. Most of the sisters and friars were allowed to remain on their property. The buildings were given a different function or were replaced by houses. At that time, too, there was a housing shortage in rapidly growing Amsterdam. But even today there are certainly still traces to be found. During this walk, we'll seek them out and hear about elite nuns, plague cemeteries and how the residents managed to keep their convent going.