Serenity. Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Ouder-Amstel, North Holland, The Netherlands
Our group of Friends from Venlo living in Amsterdam decided to have an outing on the Amstel River. So we divided ourselves between two motor boats - 8 apiece - and from Amsterdam's Kromhoutwerf we steered upriver to the picturesque town of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel to picnic in the shade of two magnificent Horse Chestnut trees in back of the protestant church (in the right of the photo).
The church is a monumental neoclassical structure designed by Jacob Eduard de Witte (1738-1809). Building commenced in 1773, a year or so after he was appointed Director-General of the Municipal Buildings of the city of Amsterdam under the jurisdiction of which Ouderkerk still resided. The church wasn't completed until 1809 and under another architect because De Witte was caught in a building fraud and promptly fired already in 1777.
This was all within municipal history, but Ouderkerk has a more cosmopolitan side too.
Just behind the church on the other side of the street is the entrance to the huge Jewish cemetery Beth Haim (= House of Life). It was established in 1614 and is the last resting place of many whose influence reached much further than Amsterdam. Allow me as someone interested in the history of scepticism to mention only Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) and the parents of great Benedictus Spinoza (1632-1677), who himself was buried in a Christian churchyard in The Hague.
And again - given the present animadversions between the governments of Morocco and The Netherlands - let me also mention that fascinating diplomat, the Moroccan Jew Samuel Pallache (ca.1550-1616). Pallache was a go-between for Sultan Mawlay Zidan el Nasir (?-1627) of Morocco and the Dutch. He was instrumental in preparing one of the first treaties between a European Christian nation and a Muslim government (1609).
So as we picnicked, these men wandered through my mind while the Sun was setting in multi-colored hues.
Serenity. Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Ouder-Amstel, North Holland, The Netherlands
Our group of Friends from Venlo living in Amsterdam decided to have an outing on the Amstel River. So we divided ourselves between two motor boats - 8 apiece - and from Amsterdam's Kromhoutwerf we steered upriver to the picturesque town of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel to picnic in the shade of two magnificent Horse Chestnut trees in back of the protestant church (in the right of the photo).
The church is a monumental neoclassical structure designed by Jacob Eduard de Witte (1738-1809). Building commenced in 1773, a year or so after he was appointed Director-General of the Municipal Buildings of the city of Amsterdam under the jurisdiction of which Ouderkerk still resided. The church wasn't completed until 1809 and under another architect because De Witte was caught in a building fraud and promptly fired already in 1777.
This was all within municipal history, but Ouderkerk has a more cosmopolitan side too.
Just behind the church on the other side of the street is the entrance to the huge Jewish cemetery Beth Haim (= House of Life). It was established in 1614 and is the last resting place of many whose influence reached much further than Amsterdam. Allow me as someone interested in the history of scepticism to mention only Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) and the parents of great Benedictus Spinoza (1632-1677), who himself was buried in a Christian churchyard in The Hague.
And again - given the present animadversions between the governments of Morocco and The Netherlands - let me also mention that fascinating diplomat, the Moroccan Jew Samuel Pallache (ca.1550-1616). Pallache was a go-between for Sultan Mawlay Zidan el Nasir (?-1627) of Morocco and the Dutch. He was instrumental in preparing one of the first treaties between a European Christian nation and a Muslim government (1609).
So as we picnicked, these men wandered through my mind while the Sun was setting in multi-colored hues.