Amsterdam - Museum Amstelkring / Our dear Lord in the Attic

The museum, with a "secret" Catholic church, is nicknamed "Ons' Lieve Heer op Zolder" ("Our dear Lord in the Attic"). After the Reformation, when the Catholics had to hold their services in secret, a secret oratory for around 200 believers was set up under the roof of this private house. If danger threatened there was a way out through the skylight. After the death of its Catholic owner the house fell into the hands of non-Catholics, but services still took place here until 1888. Later the Amstelkring foundation turned the house and church into a museum in which the atmosphere of the 17th C. "secret church" can still be experienced today. Besides the original oratory (with organ and altar), private 18th C. chambers housing a collection of church antiquities, pictures and engravings are also open to visitors. The museum still functions as a church. Concerts of Baroque music are also held here in the winter months.