De Duif 4.05

De Duif is a church on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. At present – after the recent restoration by Stadsherstel Amsterdam – it is rented out for all kinds of events.HistoryThe church was built in 1858 as the Roman Catholic St. Willibrorduskerk designed by the architect Theo Molkenboer. It was a modern replacement for the old St. Willibrordus church which had become too small. That had been the first Catholic church to be built in the Netherlands that was not a hidden church and which had been built on the former location of a sugar factory called "Het Fortuyn", which had burnt down at the close of the 18th-century. The original St. Willibrorduskerk was itself a replacement for the century old hidden church called "Het Vrededuifje" which had stood on the "Kerkstraat".De Duif is built in the neo classicist style and has a Neo-baroque front. From the opposite site of the canal one has a good view off this building. It is a rijksmonument and inside there is a large Smits-orgel, which is a rijksmonument because it was built by Franciscus Cornelius Smits and his son. This organ was the largest built north of the big Dutch rivers and was taken into service on 25 September 2006, after a restoration. The church is since 1974 the seat of the "Oecumenische Basisgemeente De Duif", that has its Sunday meetings here.