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Number 10 of 20 in Amsterdam

Begijnhof: a courtyard of the Middle Ages behind the Spui

A door on the Spui, a short passage, and the noise of the city is gone. The Begijnhof is a ring of tall houses round a lawn and a church, built for women who lived like nuns without taking a nun's vows.

What it is
Walk
Time to allow
20 to 45 minutes
Cost
Free
Best time
Early in the morning, when it is quiet

Amsterdam this week

    Why the Begijnhof is worth it

    The beguines were laywomen who lived together in religious communities, praying and working, but free to leave and marry. Amsterdam's were living in a house here by 1346, and a courtyard is first mentioned in 1389.

    It is the only courtyard of its kind in the city founded in the Middle Ages, which is why it lies inside the Singel, the innermost canal. It sits at the old street level, a metre below the rest of the centre, and was once surrounded by water, with a single way in from the Begijnensteeg. The door on the Spui was made in the nineteenth century.

    There are forty-seven houses round the lawn, and people still live in them. In the middle stands the English Reformed Church, and across the lawn a Catholic chapel hidden behind ordinary house fronts.

    What to see

    1. The wooden house

      Het Houten Huys, at number 34, one of the two houses with a wooden front left in the centre of Amsterdam.

    2. The English Church

      The old church of the beguines, given to English and Scottish Presbyterians in 1607, and still their church.

    3. The Begijnhof chapel

      A clandestine Catholic church made inside houses of the courtyard in the seventeenth century, when Catholics could not worship in public.

    4. The gable stones

      Carved and painted stones set into a wall of the courtyard, saved from houses that were pulled down.

    How to do it well

    • People live here. Keep your voice down, keep off the lawn and do not look into the windows.
    • The way in is an arched door on the Spui, easy to walk past.
    • Come early. By the middle of the day the courtyard can be full of visitors.
    • Café Hoppe and the other cafés of the Spui are a minute away.

    Where it is

    Address

    Off the Spui, between the Kalverstraat and the Singel

    Nearest station

    Rokin metro (line 52) or the Rokin tram stop, three minutes on foot

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Begijnhof

    Begijnhof: common questions

    Is the Begijnhof free to visit?
    Yes. The courtyard and its churches are free to enter. It is a place where people live, and visitors are asked to be quiet.
    What is a beguine?
    A woman who lived in a religious community, praying and working with others, without taking the vows of a nun. Beguines were free to leave and to marry.
    Where is the entrance to the Begijnhof?
    Through an arched door on the Spui. The courtyard's older way in, from the Begijnensteeg off the Kalverstraat, dates from the Middle Ages.
    How much time do you need for the Begijnhof?
    Allow 20 to 45 minutes. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

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