28th RIPE Meeting

History of Park Plaza

The meeting will be held at Park Plaza, which is part of catering company Maison van den Boer. The main meetingroom will be the Parkzaal. The second meetingroom is the Van Wisselinghezaal (2nd floor) Coffee and lunch will be served in the Fantin-Latourzaal (1st floor). Both 1st and 2nd floor are decorated in the "Amsterdamse School" style (1912).

Park Plaza is part of what used to be called "De Heilige Stede" (the holy "bed"). The building has a rich history, which begins at March 15th 1345, the date of "Het Mirakel van Amsterdam" (the miracle of Amsterdam). On that day the gravely ill Ysbrand Dommer, a well known Amsterdam burgher who lived in the Kalverstraat, was given the "sacrament der stervenden" (sacrament of the dying). Some time after he had taken the Sacred Host he had to throw up. His daughter in-law, who was sitting at his bedsite, caught the vomit and threw it, together with the Host, into the fire.

The next morning the woman raked up the fire and saw, much to her surprise, the Host, white and undamaged in the fireplace. The priest who came to visit ill Ysbrand, took the Host with him to the 'Oude Kerk'. A miraculous event had taken place...

The house of the burgher was transformed into a pilgrimage, which soon grew to become a church that was called "De kapel der Heilige Stede".

Various objects that belonged to the interior of the "Heilige Stede", are now placed at the Roman-Katholic chappel at the 'begijnhof' where they are shown during a 'stille omgang' (religious procession), that takes place every year in the month of March, in which thousands of people take place.

The place where the house of Ysbrand Dommer once stood and which is consequently called "Heilige Hoek" (holy corner), is marked with a lantern on a stand. This can be found on the corner of the Kalverstraat and the 'Enge Kapelsteeg'.