Hideaway at the heart of the city

WHEN you’re within the Singel, the innermost canal of Amsterdam’s circular waterway system, you know you’re in the heart of the city. You wouldn’t think there’d be much here that tourists haven’t already found – but there’s the Begijnhof.

They haven’t found it because to the passer-by it looks just like any other quiet little square: a green space with benches in the centre, surrounded by tall crooked houses straight out of a nursery rhyme – and, in fact, they include the oldest wooden house in the Netherlands, from 1470.

But the fascinating thing about the Begijnhofis that the houses around this ancient square were built, in 1346, for pious Catholic girls – known as begijnen– who wanted to live in a religious community but not in the seclusion of a convent.

The begijnen devoted themselves to the care of the old, poor and sick, and took a vow of chastity, but didn’t have to renounce their freedom or possessions – and could leave at any time.

The most famous begijn in the history of the Begijnhof was Sr Cornelia Arens, who died on October 14th, 1654, probably in her 40s. By then Amsterdam was under Calvinist rule, and the Begijnhof was the only Catholic institution allowed to remain.

But the Begijnhofchapel had been handed over to English Presbyterians – and that's why Sr Cornelia left strict instructions that she wished to be buried in the gutter rather than in the "desecrated" church.

Legend has it that her friends thought better of it and that she was in fact buried in the chapel. The next day, however, her body had mysteriously found its way back into the Begijnhof gutter. This happened not once but three times – until she finally had her way.

* 00-31-20-6221918, www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl

* Do you know of a hidden gem? E-mail us at go@irishtimes.com