The family Van Hoppen

As with the other windows in this chapel, the bottom of the window depicts the donor family. Pictured on the left is Jan Claesz van Hoppen (II), on his right his wife Lysbeth Pietersdr Rodigh and daughters. Jan Claesz was mayor of Amsterdam and came from a family that grew rich with a small brewery and then expanded their capital in the hop trade. His father, who was also named Jan Claesz van Hoppen (I), was founder of the Weitkoperskapel . The family's four patrons, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Nicholas and St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, are also depicted.

A window from several centuries

The design of the Annunciation and VIsitation window, made in 1555, is attributed to the architect and painter Lambert van Noort, while the execution is attributed to the glazier Digman Meynaert. However, many of the glass panels in this window date from later periods.

In the eighteenth century, M.E. de Angelis and his son performed a restoration, replacing several glass panels with new copies. The original panels, however, were preserved. During a subsequent restoration, performed by J.L. Schouten between 1901 and 1907, De Angelis' copies were removed and partly replaced with the original panels and partly with new copies by Schouten himself.

During World War II, all the stained glass windows of the Oude Kerk were removed and stored in the Reichsschuilkelder in Zandvoort for safety reasons. In the 1960s, the windows were reinstalled by Atelier Bogtman. In addition, in the 1970s Atelier Bogtman placed fragments from the Annunciation and Visitation - originally made by De Angelis and later removed by Schouten - as assemblages in the Lysbeth Gavenkapel .

The new Mariakapel on the eve of the Alteration

The Oude Kerk was built largely through donations from wealthy Amsterdam residents. guild s, brotherhoods and wealthy families founded chapels, altars and richly decorated windows. With these they expressed devotion to the Catholic Church, but it was also a way to exude power and wealth. The Mariakapel is the last attached chapel of the Oude Kerk, built during the period of the Reformation. However, you can taste from the richly decorated windows here that the Oude Kerk was then still in the Catholic tradition, while the Alternative would follow not long after the chapel was built.

It is remarkable, then, that the windows depicting the Annunciation and Visitation, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Deathbed of Mary - which together form a series - survived the Protestant period of the Oude Kerk. This is while elsewhere in the church altars were destroyed and vault paintings were painted over. The fourth window in the series, which depicted the family tree of Mary, did get replaced by the Second Mayor's Window in the eighteenth century. Today, the series is part of Collectie Nederland.

##Stained glass windows in the Oude Kerk

Stained glass is a form of glass art. In the Middle Ages, the windows of churches were completely or partially stained glass which was held together in lead strips. As a result, light entered the church space in all sorts of sparkling colors. At its peak, the Oude Kerk had 25 stained glass windows, most of which date from the sixteenth century.