Doopsgezinde kerk, Haarlem

The Doopsgezinde kerk is a historical hidden Mennonite church dating from the 17th century between the Grote Houtstraat, Peuzelaarsteeg and the Frankestraat in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Entrance built in 1757 to the Doopsgezinde kerk on the Grote Houtstraat in Haarlem.

History

View from the pulpit

The church (also referred to as the Vermaning) was built in 1683.[1] The original entrance was a simple narrow door in the alley connecting the shopping street Grote Houtstraat to the Frankestraat, called the Peuzelaarsteeg, and through the purchase of a house in the Frankestraat a new, larger, entrance was created in 1717. In 1757 a group of members of the church, including Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, purchased a house on the Grote Houtstraat and created a modern but unobtrusive entrance with long hallway. In 1902 the Frankestraat entrance was renovated and new regents’ rooms were created in Jugendstil. During the course of centuries, almost the entire block of houses was purchased by the church, and a large house across from the church in the Frankestraat, the "Huis ter Kleef", was used as an orphanage.[2] The house on the corner of the Peuzelaarsteeg and the Grote Houtstraat (nr. 51) also was purchased by Pieter Teyler, and he rented it to the Dutch Society of Science for their museum, which was the first museum in Haarlem that opened its doors in 1777.

• 
  Interior with organ.
• 
  Gallery for the orphans with watchhouse for the orphan governess
• 
  Pulpit with baroque brass sermon holder
• 
  Former alley joined the former courtyard to the former entrance on the Peuzelaarsteeg
• 
  Former courtyard converted to hallway
• 
  Regents room from 1902

List of teachers

Name board of the ministers (called teachers) and deacons of the church in the 18th century.

Hymn book published in 1804 with a foreword by the Mennonite teachers of Haarlem

The church calls its ministers teachers, and the names are written on a large name board in one of the meeting rooms, along with a list of deacons. In 1804 a songbook Christelijke Gezangen en Liederen was published in Haarlem of 150 songs with accompanying music. It had a title vignette by Reinier Vinkeles and a forward which was signed by the teachers Klaas van der Horst, Petrus Loosjes Az., Barend Hartman van Groningen, Matthias van Geuns Jz], Martinus Bodisco and Adriaan Loosjes Pz. Aagje Deken wrote the text for 74 of these songs for which she asked 4 ducats (21 guilders) compensation per page.[3]

Called	Teacher	Died
1736	Age Wijnalda	1792
1757	Martinus Arkenbout	1790
1761	Klaas van der Horst	1825
1762	Petrus Loosjes Adr.	1813
1763	Cornelis Loosjes	1792
1770	Barent Hartman van Groningen	1806
1792	Cornelis de Haan	1793
1792	Matthias van Geuns Jz	1839
1803	Abraham de Vries	1862
1807	Sijbren Klaases Sijbrandi	1854
1828	Sijtze Klazes de Waard	1856
1838	Klaas Sijbrandi	1872
1839	Willem Carel Mauve	1869
1856	Karel de Lanoij
1863	Hendrik Arend van Gelder	1899
1872	Jeronimus de Vries
1884	Jacobus Craandijk
1890	Leonardus Hesta	1901
1900	Dr. Hendrik Jan Elhorst
1901	Broer Pieter Plantenga

References

1. Rijksmonument report
2. Van de schuilkerk naar de Wereld; 1967 publication by the church
3. letter to Adriaan Loosjes by Aagje Deken, 20 February 1802, the Hague, in the DBNL

Dutch Rijksmonument 19206