Nederland - Amsterdam, Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder

Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic) is a museum housed in a17th-century canal house in the heart of the oldest part of Amsterdam and bordering the infamous red light district.

The residential canal house along the Oudezijds Voorburgwal - one of the many canlas in Amsterdam - was built in 1630. A wealthy catholic merchant from Germany - Jan Hartman - bought this house on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and the two adjecent buildings on the Heintje Hoekssteeg. He lived there with his family during the period when public Catholic celebrations were officially forbidden in the Netherlands. The Protestants had taken over power in the city in 1578. Roman Catholics couldn’t visit longer official churches for mass; from then on they were destined for Protestant worship.

Jan Hartman decided to built a so called schuilkerk (clandestine church) - one of the many in that period in Amsterdam. Between 1661 and 1663 the top three floors of his houses were changed into a house church, originally named ’t Hart. Entrance to the church was gained through a fake door hidden in the living room. This led onto a tiny spiral staircase that would take the faithful Papists into the top reaches of the attic. The schuilkerk served for more than two centuries, until it was replaced by the Sint-Nicolaaskerk, opposite the Central Station in Amsterdam.
In 1888 it was converted into a museum, making it the second oldest museum in the city. Unlike the rest of the house, which was as far as possible restored to its original 17th-century condition, the church itself has been restored to its appearance in the year 1862. Next to the clandestine church, the museum consists of several rooms of the former canal house.