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Discover the treasures of Amsterdam
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Welcome to The Other Map of Amsterdam.

For Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary (2025), we gave the city a gift: an interactive web platform showcasing the city’s religious heritage. The Other Map of Amsterdam tells the stories of all religious communities in the city, past and present.

The map will be regularly updated with new stories and walking routes.

New stories

Christianity Catholic
Homeless Jesus
2022
This lifelike sculpture of a homeless person inspires reflection and compassion worldwide.
Christianity Protestant
Churchwardens' board
1737
When the Eilands-church finally opens its doors after years of waiting, money to maintain the church proves difficult to secure.
Christianity Protestant
The Arke Noach Gable stone
1675
In the Zonshofje, a gable stone and a poem commemorate a hidden church that has vanished and the Mennonite congregations that once gathered there.
Christianity Protestant
Cornelis Claesz. Anslo
1641
Vondel writes: “Ay, Rembrandt, paint Cornelis voice. The visible part is the least of him;” in reference to this portrait of a Waterlander preacher whom he knew personally.
Christianity Protestant
Communion Service
1743
The so-called War of the Lambs was a heated conflict that led to a schism among the Dutch Mennonites and Doopsgezinden in 1664. This illustration from an early Mennonite history book depicts worship ...
Christianity Catholic
Testa Double Relic
I felt strongly that it was my duty to save the sacred relics from the sea of flames.
Christianity Protestant
Family portrait
1721
The two playful boys portrayed here with their parents grew up to be the first regents of the Rijpenhofje. This family portrait is one of ten paintings that were eventually donated to the hofje by a ...
Christianity Protestant
Pulpit
1649-1664
A miniature apple as an example of Amsterdam's largest pulpit?
Christianity Catholic
Family crest
Cornelia Elisabeth Occo (1692–1758) was active as an international investor and was the founder of the almshouse called The Building of Mercy.
Christianity Protestant
Pulpit
1671
A unique pulpit for the inhabitants of the eastern islands.
Christianity Protestant
Steenkuyl organ
1897
How the organ and the organist come together and (re)find their place among the members of the community.
Christianity Catholic
St Augustine ciborium
1643
Around 1700, there was not only discord between Catholics and Protestants. Within the Catholic Church, a growing divide emerged between Dutch priests and missionaries sent from abroad.
Christianity Protestant
Drawing of a church interior
1729
A few drawings and prints are all that remain to give an impression of what it once looked like inside the hidden church on the Bloemstraat, where one of Amsterdam’s most conservative Mennonite ...
Christianity Catholic
Mural Kevelaer Chapel
1939
When Amsterdam Catholics were no longer allowed to hold processions due to a nationwide prohibition, they had to go to a Marian shrine just across the border: Kevelaer. On a wall in the ...
Christianity Catholic
Parrot
1899
The Kalverstraat is perhaps the best-known and busiest shopping street in the Netherlands. But amid all the shops with their flashy advertisements stands a narrow façade where nothing is for sale.
Christianity Protestant
The Naked Runners in Amsterdam
1614
A small group of Anabaptists gathered in a house at the Zoutsteeg where they burned their clothes and ran naked into the streets of Amsterdam. Many illustrations have since been made depicting this ...
Hinduism
Ganesha
When one ending becomes a new beginning. This is the story of Lord Ganesha and the Hindu temple in Bijlmer.
Christianity Catholic
Lamentation of Christ
1664
Sybilla Fonteijn: benefactress of the Church
Christianity Catholic
Portrait of Petrus Parmentier
ca. 1681
On April 10, 1636, the Flemish Father Petrus Parmentier sees Amsterdam appear on the horizon. He is dressed as an ordinary civilian and carries with him only the bare necessities.
Hinduism
memorial plaque
2000
After sixteen years of international fundraising, the Hindu community in Amsterdam was finally able to build a mandir: a Hindu temple where the community could come together in worship and ...

New stories

Step over the threshold

For centuries, Amsterdam has been a place where people from all corners of the world have settled. They bring their culture, religion and rituals with them and change the face of the city. The city's multi-religious DNA is visible everywhere. The other map of Amsterdam allows you to enter that multicoloured world and discover the stories of all those Amsterdammers.

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Religious Heritage Amsterdam

About us

The other map of Amsterdam is a result of the research project Religious Heritage Amsterdam, an initiative of Our Lord in the Attic Museum and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. We work together with museums, heritage institutions, educational institutions and faith communities in the city.

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Partners

The other map of Amsterdam was made possible by our partners, including: Vrije Universiteit University Library; Rijksdienst voor het cultureel erfgoed; Reinwardt Academy; Museum Catharijneconvent; Jewish Cultural Quarter; Raad van Kerken Amsterdam; Protestant Church Amsterdam; Luther Museum Amsterdam; Samen Kerk in Nederland (SKIN); Nachtzon Media; and funds, such as Katholieke Stichting ter Bevordering van Welzijnswerk; Vrienden Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder; Dioraphte; and the Municipality of Amsterdam.

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