Canadian Mennonite
Volume 13, No. 2
Jan. 19, 2009


400 candles on Dutch church’s cake

Story and Photos By Jan Gleysteen

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

During the renovation of the Singelkerk in 2008, a large banner proclaimed “400 years of Mennonites on the Singel.”

Four hundred years ago, a hidden Anabaptist church was built behind a row of houses in Amsterdam. Today it is known as the Singelkerk. Although there were Anabaptists in Amsterdam by 1531, persecution was severe until a change in government brought reluctant tolerance after 1578.

In 1607, the Mennonite cloth merchant, Harmen Hendriksz van Warendorp, bought a large lot between the King’s Canal (better known as the Singel) and the Gentleman’s Canal. He built houses along both canals and the following year he used the courtyard space between them to build a wooden Anabaptist meetinghouse. It came to be known as the church Bij’t Lam (near the Lamb) because there was an adjacent brewery named The Lamb.

The old wooden structure was replaced in 1639 with the present, more spacious, Singelkerk. A larger space was needed because the Flemish, Frisian and High German branches of the Anabaptist movement were coming together. The first union service on April 26, 1639, attended by 3,000 people, is said to have lasted five hours.

During the 1700s, Amsterdam Mennonites began to assimilate into society and made major contributions to the cultural, intellectual and economic well-being of the city. The large Dutch Mennonite historical library, which has recently moved to the University of Amsterdam, started out in the Singelkerk with the donation of one pastor’s personal collection in 1680. The Mennonite Seminary began in the Singelkerk around 1730.

Unique to the Singelkerk are the folding chairs set up on the main floor. In years past, these chairs were kept in the entrance hall and women paid one steiver (five cents) for a chair. The men sat on the fixed benches along the three sides. A specific spot on a bench could be held for an annual fee of 50 florins. Two large balconies were occupied by less-well-to-do members and by children of the Mennonite orphanage.

During its 400th anniversary year, the Singelkerk underwent a massive restoration and remodelling project, including re-pointing the brickwork and the installation of an elevator. During most of last summer, the scaffolding outside was draped with an enormous four-storey-high banner proclaiming: “400 years of Mennonites on the Singel.”


Back to Canadian Mennonite home page