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Posts tagged westerkerk

Aerial view of Amsterdam from Westertoren (end of Anne Frank week)

western church tower scene

Aerial view of Amsterdam and Anne Frank Museum

The waterway through the center of this picture is Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal), which runs in front of the Anne Frank Museum. The line of people at the bottom-center of the photograph is for the Anne Frank Museum. I don’t know if the queue is this long all year long or just the summer, but it didn’t get significantly shorter as the day went on. I initially came to this spot in the morning, but the line was so long that I decided to come back in the afternoon, hoping that the queue would fizzle out (sort of like the line does at St. Peter’s and the Vatican) in the afternoon. The line was a bit shorter later in the day but not much.

Posted on September 9th, 2011 under Other. Tags: , , , . Comments: 2

Westertoren bells

bell tower in amsterdam west church

Westertoren bells - Amsterdam

“Thursday, March 25, 1943

Incidents like these are always accompanied by other disasters, and this was no exception. Number one: the Westertoren bells stopped chiming, and I’d always found them so comforting.”

These church bells in Westerkerk were made by François Hemony in 1648. They chime daily now, just as they did when Anne Frank wrote about them and just as they did 300+ years ago.

Posted on September 7th, 2011 under Other. Tags: , , . Comments Off on Westertoren bells

Westerkerk (Anne Frank week)

Westerkerk

Westerkerk - Amsterdam - Netherlands

For the next week I’ll have photos dealing in some way with Anne Frank. I visited the Anne Frank House (Achterhuis) in Amsterdam just over a month ago. I’m currently reading her diary.

Today’s photo is of Westerkerk, the church a stone’s throw from her house. The tower on this church is the highest in all of Amsterdam. They only allow six people up the tower each hour. Since I was by myself, (and most people wanting to go up were in groups or couples) I was able to go up when only five people were booked. I’ll show you some photos from the top at some point.

Westerkerk is mentioned in Anne’s diary (see quote below for one instance), as the bells could be easily heard from her home. Also, the church tower was one of the few things visible from the attic window in the “Secret Annex.”

The famous Dutch artist, Rembrandt van Rijn, was buried in Westerkerk on October 8, 1669.

The canal in the foreground is Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal).

“Saturday, July 11, 1942

Father, Mother and Margot still can’t get used to the chiming of the Westertoren clock, which tells us the time every quarter of an hour. Not me, I liked it from the start; it sounds so reassuring, especially at night.”

Posted on September 3rd, 2011 under Other. Tags: , , . Comments Off on Westerkerk (Anne Frank week)