Facade stones
The Begijnhof is patronage of Saint Ursula and Saint John, both of whom are depicted in the façade stones of house numbers 23 and 24. Another beautiful biblical stone is the one at no. 19 with the inscription: Out of Egypt I have called my son. It shows Joseph with the donkey carrying mother and…
Island
The Begijnhof has been an ‘island’ for a long time, enclosed on 3 sides by water, namely on the south side by the Spui, on the west side by the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and on the east side by the Begijnensteeg. The only entrance to the Begijnhof was the gate in the Begijnensteeg. Here was a…
Bleaching field
Old engravings and drawings show that the open space used to function as a bleaching field. A bleaching field is a short mowed lawn that was used to bleach linen, it was found that sunlight and oxygen had a good effect on making linen fresher and whiter. At the end of the 19th century, the…
Begijnensteegpoort
This gate is the original entrance to the Begijnhof. Above the entrance gate hangs the oldest sculpture. This dates back from 1574 and shows Saint Ursula trying to hide a modest part of the 11,000 virgins under the slips of her cloak.
