The Moses and Aaron Church (, ) in the Waterlooplein neighborhood of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is officially the Roman Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua (). Originally a clandestine church, it was operated by Franciscan priests at a house on Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street"), where the wall tablets of Moses and Aaron hung on the wall. In 1970, the present church was designated as a Cultural Heritage Monument () of the Netherlands.
History
In the first centuries after the Reformation, the public display of Roman Catholic services and accessories was not tolerated – officially forbidden in 1660 – in Amsterdam. "Amsterdam", The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 (New York City: Robert Appleton Co., 1907), retrieved 24 December 2013. So in 1641 the Franciscans went to the Joodenbuurt ["Jewish Quarter"],Traditionally, the boundaries of the Jodenbuurt are the Amstel River in the southwest, the Zwanenburgwal ["Swans City Wall"] and Oudeschans ["Old Rampart"] canals in the northwest, Rapenburg, a street in the northeast, and the Nieuw Herengracht ["New Patricians Canal"] in the southeast. then at the outskirts of the east side of Amsterdam, and opened a house church, the second of its kind in the city,Only "de Boom" ["The Tree"] was older, founded in 1628 on Kalverstraat ["Calves Street"] in central Amsterdam by the Franciscans. ": Archief van de Parochie van de Heilige Antonius van Padua (Mozes en Aäron) [Archives of the Parish of Saint Anthony of Padua (Moses and Aaron)]", Stadsarchief Amsterdam [City Archives of Amsterdam], retrieved 26 December 2013. at a house called the "Moyses" (Moses), at the back of the present church. In 1682, the house was joined by the neighboring house "Aäron" (Aaron) with the purchase by Dr. Johannes de Vroom, a physician from Breda, , dated 2 February 1682, "Transportakten voor 1811 [Deeds before 1811]", Stadsarchief Amsterdam [City Archives of Amsterdam], retrieved 24 December 2013. as well as by the house behind it on the Houtgracht ["Wood Canal"].This is the birthplace of Baruch Spinoza, who lived for the first twenty years of his life (1632–1652) with his parents. Subsequently, also in 1682, a neighboring property owned by David Torres was bought by an intermediary. , dated 23 June 1682, "Transportakten voor 1811 [Deeds before 1811]", Stadsarchief Amsterdam [City Archives of Amsterdam], retrieved 24 December 2013. The house and its yard were between Lazarussteeg ["Lazarus Alley"] (Lazarusstraat ["Lazarus Street"]) and the "Joodsekerk" ["Jewish Church"]. Named after the brothers from the Old Testament, the twin houses proved to be better known than their hidden church, Sint-Anthoniuskerk, which had been dedicated to the church's patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. In 1690, Johannes de Vroom, brother of the priest, consolidated all the four properties into a single block. , dated 31 January 1690, "Transportakten voor 1811 [Deeds before 1811]", Stadsarchief Amsterdam [City Archives of Amsterdam], retrieved 24 December 2013. The church was still listed as the "Jewish Church" in this deed. In the meantime, the expansion of the church had already begun, before the sale was made and before permission was obtained from the City Council. I[sabella]. H[enriette]. van Eeghen, "De eigendom van de katholieke kerken in Amsterdam ten tijde van de Republiek [The Ownership of the Catholic Churches in Amsterdam in the Time of the Republic]", Bijdragen Bisdom Haarlem [Review of the Diocese of Haarlem], Volume 64 (1957), pages 217-277. The entrance was moved from Jodenbreestraat to the Houtgracht. The church was decorated inside and outside, including a new facade, in 1759. But it remained hidden under the gables of the two houses until the early 19th century, when the prohibitions against the Catholic Church were finally lifted. "Amsterdam", The Catholic Encyclopedia, op. cit. The Catholic emancipation began in 1796 and some adjustments were made during the Kingdom of Holland. (However, the Pope was able to negotiate for the establishment of a Catholic bishopric in the Netherlands, despite the opposition of the Dutch Reformed Church and Orangists.) The situation improved significantly under the reign of King William II. The new Constitution of 1848 completed the Catholic emancipation and the Catholic hierarchy followed five years later in 1853. It was replaced between 1837 and 1841 by a bigger and grander building on the same site. Mozes en Aäronkerk was raised to the rank of parish under its original name, St. Anthony of Padua, in 1857, four years after the Roman Catholic hierarchy was restored to the Netherlands. ": Heilige Antonius van Padua (Mozes en Aäron), Stadsarchief Amsterdam, op. cit.
But gradually the church's parishioners deserted for other parts of Amsterdam and the second oldest of the city's Catholic parishes became the least of them. "Amsterdam", The Catholic Encyclopedia, op. cit. By 1907, Amsterdam had eighteen parishes. The three most important of them were mentioned by name but Sint-Anthoniuskerk, in spite of its devoted service during the dangerous days of the Reformation, was not one of them. The church even lost its namesake cemetery in 1866. Established in 1640, it was the first municipal cemetery in Amsterdam. In other words, it was not under the control of any particular church; it was under the control of the City Hall of Amsterdam, but Mozes en Aäronkerk, as Sint-Anthoniuskerk, was allowed to keep its register of burials for this cemetery, which was primarily used to bury the less fortunate, such as paupers and strangers, just outside the Sint-Anthonispoort ["St Anthony's Gate"], only 225 yards (206 meters) southeast of the church, at the present intersection of Weesperstraat and Nieuw Herengracht.
During the late 19th and early 20th Century, the church was a Catholic island in a Jewish neighborhood. "Geschiedenis: kerk [History: Church]", Mozeshuis: Mozes & Aäronkerk, retrieved 24 December 2013. It served as a landmark for the Jewish ghetto throughout the German occupation of Amsterdam in World War II. Eventually, the parish of "Sint-Anthonius" was suppressed in 1969 but the church kept its official status.
In 2014, after an interruption of 34 years, the church was reconsecrated, and the weekly Sunday mass was resumed, together with weekday prayer services. The church and its liturgical function was confided to the Community of Sant'Egidio, who use it as a center for charitable activities in Amsterdam. The former activities, such as providing the setting for secular weddings, and cultural events were suspended, and the local socio-cultural organization, "Mozeshuis" ("Moses House"), opened in 1969, and previously suffering financial difficulties, was closed.
Construction The present building was built as a "Water Management Church" (),A "Waterstaatskerk" is the Dutch term for a church built with the government's money and approval, between 1824 and 1875 under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works, which normally handled water management. See "Waterstaatskerk", Wikipedia: De vrije encyclopedia for more details. between 1837 and 1841 from a design by Tilman-François Suys (1783–1861) in the style of neoclassicism, with three aisles and a recessed rectangular choir. Suys also designed the Groenmarktkerk ["Green Market Street"] in Haarlem. The facade, with its twin towers, was said to be inspired by the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris and Santissima Trinità dei Monti in Rome. Günter Meißner, ed., Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Band 61: Grau Santos–Greyer [Artists of the Worlds: The Visual Artists of All Times and Lands, Volume 61: Grau Santos-Greyer] (Munich and Leipzig: K. G. Saur Verlag, 2009), , page 205
Artworks
The statue at the top of the entrance shows the blessing of the Christ. On the postcard from 1902 (shown at left), He was flanked below, left and right are two other statues, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua. More statues, St. Peter, St. Paul and the Four Evangelists, were also standing high in the two towers. They were created by the Flemish sculptor, Jan Baptist de Cuyper (1807–1852), himself a Catholic. "Amsterdam", The Catholic Encyclopedia, op. cit. but all the statues except the Christ were lost during World War II. "Mozes en Aäronkerk",Amsterdam.nl: Gebouwen, gebieden en kaarten [Buildings, Fields and Maps], retrieved 27 December 2013. The facades were made of plastered brick and iron and wooden parts of the towers were painted white. This creates a total impression of the solemn and venerable majesty of an ancient temple, done with cheap and modern materials. The columns are made of Bentheim sandstone, from the area of Bentheim in Lower Saxony of Germany.
The baroque altar, dating from about 1700, came from the original church with a painting, "De Verrijzenis van Christus [The Resurrection of Jesus]" by Jacob de Wit (1695–1754). Depending the liturgical calendar, the altarpiece would also feature either "Maria Aankondiging [Mary of the Annunciation]" or "Christus san het Kruis [Christ on the Cross]", also by Jacob de Wit. Suys designed the side altars in the same style. These were equipped with two 18th-century statues and four new statues, made by De Cuyper. On the walls are the reliefs of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, made by a Flemish sculptor, Petrus Elysens van den Bossche (1841–1921).
The church organ, designed by Charles-Marie Philbert "Geschiedenis: muziek [History: Music]", Mozeshuis: Mozes & Aäronkerk, retrieved 24 December 2013.Charles-Marie-Godefroy Philbert (1826–1894) was twice the French consul in Amsterdam (1849–1878 and 1880–1887) but he was also an organ enthusiast. He served as an organ builder, examiner and consultant as well as a choral conductor and composer. The Mozes en Aäronkerk organ is the most famous of his works. between 1869 and 1871, was built by the organmakers from Leeuwarden, De Gebroeders Adema ["The Brothers Adema"]. Richard Kassel, "Adema", The Organ: An Encyclopedia, edited by Douglas Earl Bush and Richard Kassel (New York City: Taylor & Francis Group, 2006) , pages 14-15. Some of the pipes were supplied by the French organ builder, Cavaillé Coll. It was the first organ in the Netherlands to use the Barker lever, a French innovation that allowed faster and stronger music to be played. Expanded in 1876 and 1887, the organ was restored most recently, in 1993 and 1994, by the Dutch organ building firm from Zaandam, Flentrop. It has 48 registers on three manuals and a pedalboard. Throughout its existence, it has been played by such notables as Charles-Marie Widor and Camille Saint-Saëns. "Amsterdam, Mozes & Aäronkerk ", Orgelsite, retrieved 26 December 2013.
Chronogram
On the architrave of the portal entrance is the Latin inscription from the year 1839:
QUAE FUIT A SAECLIS SUB SIGNO MOYSIS ET AARON STAT SALVATORI RENOVATA ILLUSTRIOR AEDES.
"What was under the sign of Moses and Aaron for centuries, has been renewed for the great glory of the Savior."
The bold letters in the chronogram spell out, in the Roman numerals, with the "Y" substituting for "I I", the mathematical equation for adding up the total sum of the year 1839: 5 + 6 + 151 + 5 + 1 + 1003 + 56 + 5 + 107 + 500 = 1839
Memorials
On 26 April 1866, on his visit to Amsterdam, Franz Liszt was treated at the Mozes en Aäronkerk to its orchestra and chorus's performance, led by a Dutch conductor Herman van Bree, of one of his compositions, the "Graner Mass". Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1886 (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1996), , page 103. Also known as the "Missa Solemnis", the "Graner Mass" is S.9 on the List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.1–S.350). This occasion is commemorated by a plaque bearing his profile at the church.