Oude Kerk

The Oude Kerk was consecrated around 1306 and is the oldest building in Amsterdam, a Gothic hall church that grew by adding chapels until it became the widest medieval church roof in Europe, carried on wooden vaults rather than stone because the ground here is peat and would not take the weight. The floor is made of about twenty-five hundred gravestones - some ten thousand people are buried beneath it, including Rembrandt's wife Saskia - and the stones are walked on, which visitors find odd. Stripped of its images in the Reformation, it kept its medieval painted ceiling, its choir stalls with carved misericords, and its stained glass in the Lady Chapel. It now runs as a church and as a contemporary art space with commissioned installations. It stands in the middle of De Wallen, the red-light district, which grew around it.

What you actually see

• The oldest building in the city - consecrated about 1306 and grown by chapels.
• A floor of gravestones - about 2,500 stones over some ten thousand burials.
• Wooden vaults - used because peat ground would not carry stone.
• Carved misericords - the choir stalls surviving from the medieval church.

When to go

All year. Two hours.

Honest expectations

It stands in the red-light district and the surroundings are what they are, day and night. Contemporary art installations sometimes occupy most of the interior. The tower is climbed by guided tour only.

Nearby

De Wallen surrounds it; Dam Square is a short walk west.