Medieval Amsterdam is closer than you think
Thanks to a major project on the medieval guest house archives, the knowledge about the earliest history of Amsterdam is made accessible to a large public.
The archives of the three oldest guest houses in Amsterdam, the Oude Gasthuis, the St. Pietersgasthuis and the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, together with the archives of two nunneries, belong to the oldest archives managed by the City Archives. archive of the guest houses dates from 1330. That is 55 years younger than our famous Tolprivilege from 1275. Amsterdam Medieval Archives Foundation. With the support of various funds, a large project has been set up to describe the documents and educational projects have been set up to make the knowledge about medieval.
This spring, for example, there was an educational program for the second class of Spinoza20first, financed by the Cultural Participation Fund. With creative art labs they delved into the world of the Amsterdammer dress, making use of the Amsterdam Gasthuis archives. With the help of media photography, theater and film such as students the digital resource collection new meaning. They all contain an important message to convey: Medieval Amsterdam is closer than you think!
We publish stories from these archives, such as the story about the lost lease letter, in the Documents. And next autumn, the updated inventory of the Amsterdam guest house archives up to 1578 will be online on the website of the Amsterdam City Archives, with a description of the content of the sources in modern Dutch. This makes it possible for many more people to search for hidden stories about medieval Amsterdam.