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Eine französische Kathedrale für Amsterdam
Thomas Heinrich von der Dunk
From the Journal: architectura
Published online:
16. July 2026
Abstract
In 1827, the Amsterdam city architect Jan de Greef was secretly commissioned by the Dutch government to design a cathedral for the capital, in connection with its planned elevation to a bishop’s see. The main version of the plans for the building, ultimately not realized, shows a three-aisled cruciform basilica with an ambulatory, a non-projecting transept, and a two-tower façade, in an austere neoclassical style that clearly bears the marks of his sojourns in Paris and Rome as a scholarship holder of King Louis Napoléon.
The overall design is that of a classical French Gothic cathedral, transformed into a contemporary style, while some striking elements, such as the large thermal window in the façade, are borrowed from the SS. Trinità dei Monti in Rome. There are clear parallels with the work of foreign contemporaries such as John Soane in England, Leo von Klenze in Germany, and Jakob Ignaz Hittorff in France. The main source of inspiration was probably the Grand Prix of the École des Beaux-Arts from 1809, in the middle of de Greefs Parisian period, where the assignment consisted of designing a cathedral that explicitly had to have a two-tower front, instead of a dome.
In 1827, the Amsterdam city architect Jan de Greef was secretly commissioned by the Dutch government to design a cathedral for the capital, in connection with its planned elevation to a bishop’s see. The main version of the plans for the building, ultimately not realized, shows a three-aisled cruciform basilica with an ambulatory, a non-projecting transept, and a two-tower façade, in an austere neoclassical style that clearly bears the marks of his sojourns in Paris and Rome as a scholarship holder of King Louis Napoléon.
The overall design is that of a classical French Gothic cathedral, transformed into a contemporary style, while some striking elements, such as the large thermal window in the façade, are borrowed from the SS. Trinità dei Monti in Rome. There are clear parallels with the work of foreign contemporaries such as John Soane in England, Leo von Klenze in Germany, and Jakob Ignaz Hittorff in France. The main source of inspiration was probably the Grand Prix of the École des Beaux-Arts from 1809, in the middle of de Greefs Parisian period, where the assignment consisted of designing a cathedral that explicitly had to have a two-tower front, instead of a dome.
Other articles in this issue:
architectura Issues
Volume 53 (2023)
Volume 52 (2022)
Volume 51 (2021)
Volume 50 (2020)
Volume 49 (2019)
Volume 48 (2018)
Volume 47 (2017)
Volume 46 (2016)
Volume 45 (2015)
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