13 march until 7 september 2025
Miracle of Amsterdam
On remembering the past and the future
Fifteen March in the year 1345 it buzzed through medieval Amsterdam: a miracle has happened! It is a miracle! A host was found intact in the flames of a burning hearth: a sign from God. This miracle story of Amsterdam will be celebrated on the occasion of the city’s 750th anniversary with the opening of the exhibition ‘Miracle of Amsterdam, about remembering the past and the future’ in Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder.
Miracle of Amsterdam
On remembering the past as well as the future
Fifteen March in the year 1345 it buzzed through medieval Amsterdam: a miracle has happened! It is a miracle! A host was found intact in the flames of a burning hearth: a sign from God. This miracle story of Amsterdam will be celebrated on the occasion of the city’s 750th anniversary with the opening of the exhibition ‘Miracle of Amsterdam, about remembering the past and the future’ in Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder.
The exhibition opens 13 March and can be seen until 7 September 2025 at Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder. The Stille Omgang will take place on Saturday 15 March. The lantern that marks the place of the miracle every year during this procession is part of the exhibition.
An eventful history
This extraordinary story set in the heart of Amsterdam is the beginning of a long and eventful history. On the spot where the miracle took place, the Kapel ter Heilige Stede is built. Every year in March, the miracle is commemorated with a procession. Two centuries later (1578), the Protestant takeover of the city ensured that Catholics had to practise their faith in hidden churches. The Kapel ter Heilige Stede was purged of all references to the Amsterdam Miracle. Only a few objects have survived over the past centuries. These masterpieces – from our own and leading Dutch collections – can be seen in the exhibition ‘Miracle of Amsterdam’ in Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder.
Remembering for the future
The Amsterdam Miracle continues to inspire. Three contemporary artists give a new dimension to the stories and traditions surrounding the Miracle. They reflect with young people on what should be remembered at 1000 years of Amsterdam. Producer and DJ JP Enfant translates the ancient sounds of the Occo Codex into a contemporary electronic composition. Artist Kaili Smith works on a contemporary altarpiece in which he draws inspiration from the neighbourhood, the museum’s collection and stories of the young people from the Voices Community. Maha Eljak will work with the young people to create a zine that focuses on their hopes, memories and identity. This process culminates in a dynamic work studio, in which the young people express their concerns, wishes and dreams for the future.
An anniversary always invites us to recall the past. On the occasion of 750 years of Amsterdam, we are highlighting an event that Catholic faithful still remember and that counts almost as many years as the birth of the city: the Amsterdam Miracle. Carrying memories into the future, however, is not easy. You need stories, artworks and objects for it. And influencers. With their creativity, they are the ‘directors’ of the memories we want to carry into the future. Artists, together with the museum’s youth community, represent what Amsterdammers will remember about our time in the future.
An exhibition at the museum and in the city
Step into the world of the Amsterdam Miracle. Three walks will take you to medieval Amsterdam where the Holy City is the centre of the miracle devotion. A world of churches and monasteries, of pilgrims of all kinds and of miraculous healings. You can find these walks by clicking on the title of the walk below.
On this walk, we seek the traces of the old monasteries and read about elite nuns, plague cemeteries, fattening oxen, land disputes, family interests, housing shortages and an anatomy lesson.
This walk takes you past the places associated with the memory of the Miracle of Amsterdam. Walking through the old city centre, we will also see how Amsterdam developed into a city where different religious groups lived together and changed the city’s appearance from the seventeenth century onwards.
This walk starts at Huis te Vraag and goes via an old medieval dike (today’s Amstelveenseweg), the Overtoom and the Heiligeweg to where the Kapel ter Heilige Stede stood. From there, we walk part of the nightly Stille Omgang. The city did change since the 14th century. Therefore, we now also pass a ‘brutalist temple’.
Pictures of the objects:
