The House with the Heads (known as 'Huis met de Hoofden' in Dutch) is a large

canal house A canal house () is a (usually old) house overlooking a canal. These houses are often slim, high and deep. Canal houses usually had a basement and a loft and attic where trade goods could be stored. A special Beam (structure), beam or pulley in ...

on the Keizersgracht 123 in Amsterdam, named after the six ornaments shaped as heads, which are on the façade. The house is a ''

rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

'' and is listed on the

Top 100 Dutch heritage sites The Top 100 Dutch heritage sites is a list of rijksmonuments in the Netherlands, established in 1990 by the Department for Conservation (Monumentenzorg, today the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed). The Top 100 was a selection of historical mo ...

. Nowadays the building is home to the Embassy of the Free Mind, a museum and platform for culture, music, art, science and spirituality.

History

The house was built in 1622 for Nicolaas Sohier, a wealthy stock trader and art lover. The renaissance façade is attributed to architect

Hendrick de Keyser Hendrick de Keyser (15 May 1565 – 15 May 1621) was a Dutch sculptor, merchant in Belgium bluestone, and architect who was instrumental in establishing a late Renaissance form of Mannerism changing into Baroque. Most of his works appeared in Ams ...

, but was probably executed and completed by his son

Pieter de Keyser Pieter de Keyser (c.1595 – 15 September 1676 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age architect (''bouwmeester'') and sculptor. He followed in the footsteps of his father Hendrick de Keyser and completed a number of Hendrick de Keyser's buildings a ...

, as Hendrick had already died in 1621. As for the heads in the façade, there is a legend that they refer to six thieves who had tried to break in the house and were then beheaded by the maid. However, the ornaments are said to be images of six Roman gods:

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

with the laurel

wreath A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape. In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...

(the arts); Ceres with the grain (agriculture); Mercury with the winged helmet (trade);

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

(wisdom);

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

with the grapes (wine); and

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

with the half moon (hunt).

Residents

Shortly after Sohier moved to the house, his wife and two daughters died. In 1634 he sold the property to

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and industrialist Louis de Geer. Along four generations the house remained in possession of the family

De Geer The De Geer family (, ; also: De Geer van Jutphaas and De Geer van Oudegein) is a prominent industrial family of Walloon origin that belongs to the Swedish and Dutch nobility. History The name derives from the town of Geer near Liège (in pre ...

, who made it a nerve center of exchange for ideas in respect to trade, science, philosophy and culture.

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...

, members of the prominent

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

publishing family and possibly

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

are said to be guests of the De Geer. Between 1752 en 1775 Anthoni Grill rented the house from the inheritants, who sold it in 1779. In 1811 art dealer Cornelis Sebille Roos settled in the building. After 1865 an ''

Hogere Burgerschool The ''Hogere Burgerschool'' (''HBS'') (Dutch: Higher Civic School) was a secondary school type that existed between 1863 and 1974 in the Netherlands and the Dutch Empire. These schools, with a five- or sometimes six-year program, continued in 1 ...

'' was established in the house, followed by a public trade school in 1869. After a restoration in 1907 by the municipality, it served the

Conservatorium van Amsterdam The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

from 1909 to 1931. A fur trade and a city’s bureau for monuments and archeology were also later established. At the end of February 2006 it was announced that the Huis met de Hoofden had been sold to businessman and art collector Joost Ritman. Today the building is home to museum The Embassy of the Free Mind, which comprises part of the

Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH) or The Ritman Library is a Dutch library founded by Joost Ritman located in the Huis met de Hoofden (House with the Heads) at Keizersgracht 123, in the center of Amsterdam. The Bibliotheca Philosophica He ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 52, 22, 35, N, 4, 53, 15, E, region:NL-NH_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures in Amsterdam Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam