Step Into the Dark at Rokin 78
You descend by elevator, the doors close, and the city above you disappears. This is The Descent, the opening scene of the Amsterdam Dungeon, where a character called the Black Jester explains the rules before sending you down into the dark. From here you move through a series of live shows, each one set in a different chapter of the city's past, performed by a cast of professional actors in near-total darkness, with sound, smell and light effects doing much of the work. The whole walk-through takes around an hour and twenty minutes. Photographs and video are not allowed, which is just as well: the shows work best when you have nothing to do but watch.
Balthasar Gerards, Torture and the Council of Blood
The scenes come at you in quick succession, and several of them ask for your participation. In the Torture Chamber, a torturer lines the audience up against a wall, picks out a young man and straps him into a chair surrounded by devices, including the appendage cutter, which is demonstrated inch by inch. The talking head of Balthasar Gerards, the assassin of William of Orange, describes in graphic detail the methods by which he was executed. In the Council of Blood, set in an inquisition court during the Eighty Years' War, Judge Vargos judges three visitors in the name of King Philip II of Spain: one is convicted for being from a certain place, one for being a "fashion killer", and one, most seriously, for being a witch. At the Witch Burning on the Nieuwmarkt, a Witch Hunter turns the audience against one another to bring a witch forward, and the stake is lit in a pyrotechnic show.
A Mirror Maze, a Ghost Ship and the Gallows' Field
- Labyrinth of Lost Amsterdam — a disorientating mirror maze built around the winding streets of the old city.
- The Flying Dutchman — in a louche bar called 't Aepjen, a landlord tells the story of Captain Hendrik van der Decken, whose ghost is expected that night; a technical show follows.
- Black John — in Dr. Deyman's anatomy theatre, a cleaner examines the body of the murderer Black John, who is to be painted by Rembrandt the next day, until Dr. Deyman's knocking sends everyone into the body room.
- The Gallows' Field — you are led through treacherous tunnels in the dark to the fields where executed criminals were hanged, where the Nightwatch shows you the body of Elsje Christiaens and offers to let everyone go if one brave soul reaches into a small hole in the wall for a key.
- Murder on the Zeedijk — in an old tannery, a tanner tells the story of jealous Helena, who murdered her sister Dina and was cursed forever.
If you want to know what you are letting yourself in for, the shows are rated on a Scare-o-Meter from 1 to 5. The Torture Chamber, Council of Blood and the Witch Hunter sit at 2; The Descent and Black John at 3; The Gallows' Field at 4; and The Flying Dutchman and Murder on the Zeedijk are the scariest, rated 5.
A Church That Hides Its Past
The Dungeon is built into the Nieuwezijdse Kapel, a church that closed in 1970. Nothing of the original building was demolished, and the sets could be removed entirely if the church were needed again. Inside, you would never know it: no part of the church is visible to visitors, though on the Gallows' Field only the actor's echoing voice gives away that you are standing beneath the dome. The church itself stands on the site of the Eucharistic Miracle of Amsterdam, and the graves of some two hundred people buried in the old chapel remain under the floor, unseen. Among the props is a grave belonging to Rembrandt van Rijn, convincing enough to fool anyone, though the painter is actually buried in the Westerkerk.
When to Go and How to Get There
The Dungeon sits at Rokin 78 in the centre of Amsterdam, a five-minute walk from Dam Square. From Centraal Station, trams 4, 9, 16, 24 and 25 run to the Rokin stop, as does tram 14. If you are driving, take exit S110 from the A10 ring and follow the signs for Centrum and Stadhouderskade; there is metered parking in the side canal streets before Muntplein, and the Bijenkorf car park at Dam 1 is about five minutes away on foot. It is open daily, and performances are bilingual in English and Dutch, so you will follow every word whichever language you speak. The building is wheelchair accessible, though only one wheelchair user can be accommodated per group and electric wheelchairs are not permitted for safety reasons. I amsterdam City Card holders need to reserve a time slot in advance and bring a valid card. The Shop of Horrors is free to browse without a ticket.
Book a slot, arrive at Rokin 78, and let the Black Jester take it from there. An hour and twenty minutes later you will step back out into the daylight with a rather different picture of this city's past than the one the canal houses suggest.