De Duif
church and Rijksmonument on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam
De Duif is a church on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. At present – after the recent restoration by Stadsherstel Amsterdam – it is rented out for all kinds of events.
History
The church was built in 1858 as the Roman Catholic St. Willibrorduskerk designed by the architect Theo Molkenboer. It was a modern replacement for the old St. Willibrordus church which had become too small. That had been the first Catholic church to be built in the Netherlands that was not a hidden church and which had been built on the former location of a sugar factory called "Het Fortuyn", which had burnt down at the close of the 18th century. The original St. Willibrorduskerk was itself a replacement for the century-old hidden church called "Het Vrededuifje" which had stood on the "Kerkstraat".
De Duif is built in the neo classicist style and has a Neo-baroque front.
The public source identifies “De Duif” as church and Rijksmonument on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Duif, church and Rijksmonument.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “De Duif”, the useful work is to connect “church and Rijksmonument on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 19, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q2050495. Authority coordinates are 52.361, 4.897. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “De Duif”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow De Duif primary sources, De Duif archive and Duif research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “De Duif” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.