Oost-Indisch Huis courtyard

What this is

You go through a gate, along a short tunnel, and come out in a quiet courtyard. This is the Oost-Indisch Huis, the East India House. It was the headquarters of the Amsterdam chamber of the Dutch East India Company, the VOC. Today it belongs to the University of Amsterdam.

That contrast is the reason to come. Nothing here is loud or staged. You stand in a calm university courtyard and know that the company's business was run from the rooms around you. Ten or fifteen minutes is enough.

The story of the house

In 1603 the Amsterdam chamber of the company began using part of the Bushuis, an old armoury on the Kloveniersburgwal canal, as a warehouse. Two years later it took over the whole building. It still lacked space for meetings and offices, so a new building went up right next to it. It was finished in 1606 and was the first building made especially for the company.

It did many jobs at once: warehouse, administrative centre, office and auction room. The 20 regents of the Amsterdam chamber met here. Most meetings of the Heeren XVII, the Lords Seventeen who ran the whole company, were also held here. Ship crews were recruited in the building, and the company's archives and map collection were kept inside.

The house grew over time. A further extension was built between 1658 and 1661. The western wing was extended in 1663 and 1664, and a northern wing reached the street Oude Hoogstraat. The architect is most likely Hendrick de Keyser, the name most closely tied to the Amsterdam Renaissance style.

The company was dissolved in 1798. Until 1808 the building housed the colonial government of the Batavian Republic. In 1891 the old Bushuis next door was demolished, and a new eastern wing by Cornelis Peters was added along the courtyard. A restoration in 1976 rebuilt the grand meeting room. The house is now a national monument.

Amsterdam had a second company house too. The West India Company had its own, and you can see it at the West-Indisch Huis courtyard, a longer walk across the centre.

What to look for

Start at the gate. It has Tuscan-style pilasters, flat columns set into the wall. Walk slowly through the small tunnel behind it and notice how the street noise fades.

In the courtyard, look up at the facades. They are in the Amsterdam Renaissance style: brick, stone trim, tall windows and a calm, even rhythm. Then look for the newer eastern wing from 1891. The join between 17th-century and late 19th-century building is easy to see once you know it is there.

Try to picture the place as a working yard. Clerks, sailors looking for a berth and merchants on their way to a meeting would all have passed through. The courtyard is small, which makes that easier to imagine.

This is a university building, so keep your voice down and stay in the courtyard.