Keizersgracht and The House with the Heads: Gods of Wisdom
Why is it significant?
Stop before number one hundred and twenty-three Keizersgracht and look up at the exuberantly decorated brick and white sandstone facade of the Huis met de Hoofden—the House with the Heads.
Key Facts
| Place | Keizersgracht and The House with the Heads: Gods of Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Address | Keizersgracht 123, 1015 CJ Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.37610, 4.88600 |
| Part of Walk | Amsterdam Golden Age & Masterpieces: Museumplein, Rijksmuseum, and Canal Ring |
| Generated | Generated |
Stop before number one hundred and twenty-three Keizersgracht and look up at the exuberantly decorated brick and white sandstone facade of the Huis met de Hoofden—the House with the Heads. Six expressive sculpted busts flank the central entrance and windows: Apollo, Ceres, Mars, Minerva, Bacchus, and Diana, representing the virtues of art, commerce, courage, wisdom, conviviality, and nature.
Built in sixteen twenty-two by municipal architect Hendrick de Keyser for tobacco merchant and arts patron Nicolaas Sohier, the house became in the seventeenth century a beacon of European free thought. The de Geer family sheltered philosophers and scholars here, amassing one of the finest private libraries of hermetic philosophy and alchemy in the world.
A gruesome urban legend claims the heads represent six burglars who sneaked into the house, only to have their heads chopped off one by one with a bread knife by a fearless kitchen maid named Anna.
Continue north toward the soaring spire of the Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House.