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The oldest and greatest of Amsterdam’s churches(see Oude Kerk).

The second parish church in Amsterdam was built after the congregation outgrew the Oude Kerk. Burnt down several times, its oldest part is the choir, dating from around 1400 (see Nieuwe Kerk, Nieuwe Kerk).

After the Alteration of 1578, the first Dutch Protestant churches to be built were the Zuiderkerk, the Noorderkerk and the Westerkerk – all designed by Hendrick de Keyser. The Westerkerk has the city’s tallest tower, topped by the gaily painted imperial crown of Maximilian of Austria.

The splendid spire, with its columns, clocks, pinnacles and onion dome, was much admired by Sir Christopher Wren, and is still a prominent city landmark, even though the Zuiderkerk ceased to function as a church in 1929. Today it is an information centre for urban development.

Hendrick de Keyser’s last church, begun a year before he died in 1621 (its completion was supervised by his son Pieter), is quite different in style. Built for the poor of the Jordaan, it is an austere brick building with only the shortest of spires. Designed on a Greek Cross plan, it has a central pulpit and four hipped roofs.

In the middle of the Begijnhof, the pretty English Reform Church got its name from the English (and Scottish) Presbyterians who worshipped there after it was requisitioned in 1578. There has been a church on this site since the end of the 14th century.

Like many Catholic churches in Amsterdam, De Krijtberg (meaning Chalk Mountain) is known by its nickname rather than its official name, Franciscus Xaveriuskerk (after St Francis Xavier, a founding Jesuit monk); designed in 1884 by Alfred Tepe, it replaced a clandestine Jesuit chapel. It’s an impressive building, with an elegant, twin-steepled Neo-Gothic façade and an ornate interior that stands in marked contrast to the austerity of the city’s Protestant churches.

Here, the nickname comes from two gablestones depicting Moses and Aäron on the house fronts that hid a clandestine church within. It was replaced in 1841 by the present Neo-Classical building, its towers inspired by St Sulpice in Paris.

Dedicated to the patron saint of seafarers, the church was commissioned by the congregation ofOns’ Lieve Heer op Solder (see Museum Amstelkring). A C Bleys, the architect, came up with a Neo-Renaissance building.

This church – founded in 1409 – is all that is left of the convent of St Paul. Its name means Walloon Church, a reference to the Low Countries (now Belgium), from where Huguenots fled the Catholic terror. In 1586 they were given use of the Waalse Kerk so that they could continue their worship in French. It has a historic organ dating from 1680, renovated in 1734 by master organ builder Christian Müller. The church is a popular concert venue.