Amsterdam Old Church at sunset
The tower of Amsterdam’s oldest church — the Old Church (Oude Kerk, in Dutch) — silhouetted in the late afternoon winter sky.
Actually, the Old Church is the oldest building in Amsterdam. It was built in several phases between some time around 1300 and 1578. Every time there was enough money the church was expanded a bit.
The oldest part of the church is the tower, but at some point a new tower was built around it.
The Old Church was dedicated to St. Nicholas, a Catholic saint from Turkey. Some 1700 years ago he was bishop of Myra. He is said to have performed many miracles.
One of his alleged miracles was saving three seaman during a bad storm by guiding them into the harbor of Myra. From that time on many harbor cities, Amsterdam included, built a church in his honor.
Old Amsterdam in colorized photos
Photochroms of Amsterdam taken between 1890 and about 1900. Collected by the Library of Congress. No known copyright.
According to Wikipedia, “Photochrom … prints are colorized images produced from black and white photographic negatives via the direct photographic transfer of a negative onto lithographic printing plates. The process is properly considered a photographic variant of chromolithography, a broader term referring to color lithography in general.”
Christmas lights on Amsterdam’s canals
Every city in the Netherlands has a traditional Christmas tree, but this year Amsterdam has decorated 40 of its streets, bridges and canals with thousands of lights.
The event has been dubbed ‘Winter Magic Amsterdam’. And the best way to see all those magical Christmas lights is by taking an old fashioned canal tour.