Draft:Maagdenhuis (Amsterdam)

The Maagdenhuis houses the administrative centre of the University of Amsterdam. The building dates from 1780 and was designed by Abraham van der Hart. From 1628 to 1953, this location on the Spui housed the Rooms Catholijk Maagdenhuis, an orphanage for Catholic girls that was founded in 1570 when two women from Amsterdam decided to take care of a few orphaned girls. After the orphanage was closed, the organisation continued in 1970 as a fund for social initiatives.

The building – with the name Maagdenhuis on the upper edge of the stairs on the front facade – was built between 1783 and 1787 to a design by the city architect Abraham van der Hart. It owes its name to the purpose for which it was built: an orphanage for girls. It was not built or financed by the city council, but by the citizens – in particular those of the Roman Catholic community – of Amsterdam. In 1785, the house ownership of the Maagdenhuis increased considerably due to the inheritance of Hendrik Jacob van Naarden. In his will of 15 August 1782, Van Naarden had stipulated that the regents had to sell all his possessions and use the money for the newly built Maagdenhuis. This made it one of the first Catholic buildings in Amsterdam tolerated by the city council after the Alteration of 1578, a time when Catholics held their church services in clandestine churches.

Before construction could take place, approximately nine old buildings had to be demolished. These were located on the Spui, on the Handboogstraat and on the Voetboogstraat. The appearance of the outside, the exterior, is almost the same as the state in which it was built. High on the front facade one can see one of the most beautiful parts of the building: a tympanum with a group of statues by the sculptor Anthonie Seisonis in the triangle, which refers allegorically to the function that the Maagdenhuis had for almost 170 years, namely that of a home for Catholic orphan girls between the ages of about eight and fourteen.

The medallion in the middle of the pediment depicts the Bible text from Mark 10:14: "Jesus said: Suffer the children to come unto me". The medallion is flanked by two orphan girls, the 'two virgins'. The elements in the three outermost corners are the anchor, which symbolizes hope, the heart, which symbolizes love, and the cross, which symbolizes faith. Faith, hope and love are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13.

The interior has been so thoroughly renovated that little remains of its original state. The two rooms at the front, which were once intended for the regents and regentesses respectively, still breathe some of the atmosphere of the old orphanage. The coats of arms in those rooms are those of the families of the female administrators, the regentesses. Nearby hangs the memorial stone on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone on the site where the chapel used to be.

The handmade clock – on the roof of the rear section, visible from the former courtyard – dates from 1785.

From 1787 to 1953, the Maagdenhuis mainly functioned as a Roman Catholic orphanage of the Stichting R.C. Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam. After that, it was renovated for the Nationale Handelsbank N.V., which moved in in 1957. Finally, since 1962, it has been in use by the university for the benefit of the board, then called Presidium, later called College van Bestuur, and the administration.