Amsterdam Beguinage is one of the oldest enclosed courtyards of Amsterdam. The Beguinage is a settlement – a community of Beguines, women who were close to the monastic way of life, however, could at any time withdraw from the community to marry, retained their property, etc Beguinages appeared in Europe in the XII century and have become very common in the thirteenth century, especially in Belgium and the Netherlands. Now the nuns-K.

The Beguinage is the only indoor courtyard, which was formed in the Middle ages. It is located inside Singela – from the innermost ring of canals in Amsterdam. The courtyard of the Beguinage and remained at the level of medieval streets – that is about a metre below the rest of the city streets. The exact date of Foundation of the Beguinage is unknown, it is believed that the first beginni appeared in Amsterdam in 1307. In the documents it is mentioned that in 1346 in one of the houses lived beginni and the private courtyard was first mentioned in written sources in 1389. Houses, forming the Beguinage – high houses built in typical Amsterdam style. In total there are 47 buildings, each of them is a separate house that is different from the next. The facades are mostly of the XVII and XVIII centuries, however, the buildings themselves were much older. It also survived one of the two wooden houses in Amsterdam.

The small Church of the virgin Mary appeared in the Beguinage in 1397, and after the fires of 1421 and 1452 of the year it had to be rebuilt anew. During the reformation the Catholic Church was handed over to the British and since then is called the English Church. In 1665 in the Beguinage was built a Church. The city authorities have given permission for construction, provided that outside the Church will not look like the Church.

Currently, the Beguinage is not already in a literal sense, because the latter lived here begine, sister Anthony, died in 1974.