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Amsterdam
Though Holland had the fastest-growing econormy in Europe at the time , having become the mercantile hub of the Spanish Empie, this was not reflected in its architecture. Because they were for the part Calvinists and their beliefs dictated simple church structures , they did not build churches until they had reached independence from Spain. Following the destruction of Antwerp by the Spanish, Amsterdam, a relatively unimportant city until 1579, quickly became one of the leading international ports of Europe, developing a cityscape that included the town hall in Dam Square (now the Royal Palace), the Wasterkerk , the Zuiderkerkerk, as a large number of canal houses commissioned by leading mercantile families.
The first church in Amsterdam specifically built for the protestant community was the Zuiderkerk(1603-11). It is a simple six-bay rectangle that is pseudo- basilican in plan, meaning that , though it a nave and side aisles, it has no apse, thus reflecting the more community – oriented nature of its religious services. The buttresses on the outside are reduced to a minimum in a way that was meant to be reminiscent of the Gothic hall churches. It also had a wooden vault. The tower is squeezed into one of the corners.
Though longitudinal in plan , the use of the sqace was transversal , as the pulpit for the Bible readings was placed in front of the middie column of the westernarcade. The columns are dark and contrast with the whitewashed walls in a manner that was clearly meant to imitate 15 th- century north Italian Renaissance churches. In this way they harkened back to an ideal of a simpler late Medieval – early Renassancelife , presumed to have been untainted by the grandeur and corruption of the church of Rome. Zuiderkerk was followed by the Westerkerk(1620-31), which created a more unified whole with a clear division between the main axis-with the tower serving as entrance –nad the cross axis with the pulpit.