In this series, Olmo visits his favourite spots in Amsterdam's Nieuwmarkt district. He handles marketing and communications for Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder and takes you to this unique place, as he considers it Amsterdam's best-kept secret, and far too few Amsterdammers visit. When this is precisely the history of their city!
Museum Our Lord in the Attic: hidden on Oudezijds Voorburgwal
At Oudezijds Voorburgwal 38, just past brewery De Prael in the Nieuwmarkt district, there is a building with a golden facade bearing the words: “Museum Our Lord in the Attic’. Those who step inside enter one of Amsterdam's best-preserved seventeenth-century clandestine churches.
Museum Our Lord in the Attic is made up of three joined houses that were once bought by a German merchant. He built a complete church in the attic, hidden from the outside world. This is because in the seventeenth century, while there was freedom of conscience in Amsterdam, public worship was forbidden for Catholics, Lutherans, and Mennonites. As long as you kept it indoors and there was nothing visible from the outside, it was tolerated.
A 300-year-old hidden church in the Nieuwmarkt district
The attic church of Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder has existed for over 300 years. Visitors enter the museum via a narrow alley and a mini-tunnel. In the past, churchgoers would enter unseen via the alley. On the upper floors, you'll find a nineteenth-century kitchen full of Delft blue tiles, and at the very top, the breathtaking hidden church itself. The building is so spacious that you'll hardly encounter any other visitors, offering a unique experience.
Since 1888, the building has been a museum. It attracts over a hundred thousand visitors annually, but remarkably few of them are Amsterdammers. During Museum Night and Amsterdam Dance Event, young city dwellers do find their way to the museum, and on the first Sunday of every month, a Catholic mass is still held in the attic church. However, during the week, it remains an unknown place for many local residents.
The Nieuwmarkt district as Amsterdam's historic heart
For Olmo, Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder is more than a workplace; it's a place that tells the story of Amsterdam as it was in the seventeenth century. How people lived, worked, and secretly practised their faith here. The Nieuwmarkt district has always been a neighbourhood where different communities lived alongside one another, and that story is nowhere more tangible than in this museum.
His appeal to neighbours is direct: park your bike on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and come inside. Because this is your piece of Amsterdam, and you need to claim it.
Olmo on his favourite spots in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood
In other episodes, you follow Olmo to his favourite spots in the Nieuwmarkt district, the neighbourhood he cycles through daily and considers one of the richest and most layered areas of Amsterdam. This episode is about hidden history, neighbourhood pride, and the question of why Amsterdammers so often cycle past their own heritage without ever visiting it.
Watch and listen to the full conversation with Olmo above. Or listen here To the previous episode where Olmo takes you to Platypus Records: a must-see for any music lover!
