Rainbow lighting in the Amsterdam Westerkerk by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About "Rainbow lighting in the Amsterdam Westerkerk"

by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About the artwork

The Westerkerk in Amsterdam is a church on Prinsengracht 279-281, on the Westermarkt, on the edge of the Jordaan. The originally Nederduits Gereformeerde and since 1816 Nederlands Hervormde Westerkerk congregation is part of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands since 2004.

The Westerkerk was built between 1620 and 1631 in the Renaissance style designed by architect Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621). He is buried in the Zuiderkerk. The Westerkerk was completed under the direction of his son Pieter de Keyser (1595-1676) and was inaugurated on 8 June 1631. The church is 58 metres long and 29 metres wide. The high nave is flanked by the two lower aisles. The three-aisled basilica has a rectangular ground plan with two transepts of equal size. This gave the plan the shape of two Greek crosses connected to each other.

Since the end of the 1970s, a rainbow flag has served as a symbol of the gay rights movement, and since then it has been carried in Gay Pride parades and hung out at gay bars and numerous other gatherings of gays, lesbians and related sexual minorities.

This rainbow flag was designed in June 1978 by the American artist Gilbert Baker from San Francisco as a symbol for the Gay Pride Parade of that year. Before that the pink triangle was the symbol of the gay movement but there was opposition because it was a reference to the oppression during the Nazi era. The flag was supposed to be a sign of lesbian and gay pride and at the same time for the diversity of thi