The 800-year old Oude Kerk "old church" is Amsterdam’s oldest building and oldest parish church, founded ca. 1213 and finally consecrated in 1306 by the bishop of Utrecht with Saint Nicolas as its patron saint. After the Reformation in 1578 it became a Calvinist church, which it remains today. The floor consists entirely of gravestones. The reason for this is that the church was built on a cemetery. Local citizens continued to be buried on the site within the confines of the church until 1865. There are 2500 graves in the Oude Kerk, under which are buried 10,000 Amsterdam citizens. Among them are many of them who were connected to slavery. Daniel Bernard, Dir SOS; Cornelis de Graeff, Pres VOC, regent & Mayor of AMS, Andries de Graeff, BM, Cornelis Hooft; Jan Jacobszoon Hinlopen.
From the 16th Century this church was the burial site for the officers of the VOC, the WIC and the Society of Surinam. It also holds the grave of the manumitted slave Jacob Matroos Beeldsnijder (1779-1817). Beeldsnijder’s father, Wolphert Jacob Beeldsnijder, was a leading civil servant in Surinam (between 1770 and 1785). His mother was `the mulatto Betje of Beeldsnijder’, who was born around 1742. His grandmother was African-Surinamese Adjuba. Together with his twin brother Ernst and his mother, Jacob Matroos was his father’s property. Wolphert bought their manumission in February 1781. The sons were sent to Holland for their education. Jacob Matroos returned to Paramaribo in 1797 where he married and fathered five children. He died in Amsterdam in 1817.
From the 16th Century this church was the burial site for the officers of the VOC, the WIC and the Society of Surinam. It also holds the grave of the manumitted slave Jacob Matroos Beeldsnijder (1779-1817). Beeldsnijder’s father, Wolphert Jacob Beeldsnijder, was a leading civil servant in Surinam (between 1770 and 1785). His mother was `the mulatto Betje of Beeldsnijder’, who was born around 1742. His grandmother was African-Surinamese Adjuba. Together with his twin brother Ernst and his mother, Jacob Matroos was his father’s property. Wolphert bought their manumission in February 1781. The sons were sent to Holland for their education. Jacob Matroos returned to Paramaribo in 1797 where he married and fathered five children. He died in Amsterdam in 1817.
