Ouderkerk aan de Amstel () is a town in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is largely a part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ouder-Amstel Ouder-Amstel () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Ouder-Amstel consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Duivendrecht, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel ...

; it lies about 9 km south of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. A small part of the town lies in the municipality of

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

. It is connected to

by the river

Amstel The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam. Annually, the riv ...

. There is another village called Ouderkerk in

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

Ouderkerk aan den IJssel Ouderkerk aan den IJssel (; en, Ouderkerk upon IJssel) is a village in the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, in the province of South Holland, the Netherlands. It is situated along the river Hollandse IJssel and has over 4000 inhabitants. Ouderke ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1308 as Ouderkerken, and means "old church". Old was probably added to distinguish from another village, however it is not clear which village. A candidate is

Nieuwerkerk Nieuwerkerk is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland, and lies about 23 km south of Hellevoetsluis. Nieuwerkerk was a separate municipality until 1961, when the new municipality of ...

which disappeared in the Haarlemmermeer, but it can also refer to

. Ouderkerk developed at the confluence of the Bullewijk into the

river. The castle of the

van Amstel family The van Amstel family ( nl, Heren van Amstel) was an influential dynasty in the medieval Netherlands from the twelfth until the fourteenth century. The family developed the Amstelland and held the stewardship in the ecclesiastical districts in t ...

was probably located on across the present church, however it was destroyed in 1204. From the 17th century onwards, estates were built in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel by the Amsterdam merchants.

Main sights

The town is the location of the

Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel The Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands. It was purchased for use as a burying ground by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1614 and is located in the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, in th ...

, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands, as well as a

neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Roman Catholic church that was designed by

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. M ...

in 1865.http://www.kerkenouderkerk.nl/web/node/65 (Dutch)

Gallery

File:Ouderkerk ad Amstel, de Kerkbrug RM31977 foto6 2015-08-28 13.10.jpg, Drawing bridge: de Kerkbrug File:De Zwaan Molen in Oudekerk ad Amstel.jpg, De Zwaan ("The Swan") windmill File:Ouderkerk ad Amstel, zicht op de Ronde Hoep foto2 2015-08-28 13.26.jpg, View to de Ronde Hoep File:Ouderkerk.jpg, Entering the town of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel File:Gemeentehuis van Ouder-Amstel.jpg, Ouder-Amstel Town Hall in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouderkerk Aan De Amstel Populated places in North Holland Amstelveen Ouder-Amstel