The golden dove on the neo-Baroque façade of Amsterdam's De Duif church recalls the seventeenth century, when a clandestine Catholic congregation, Het Vrededuifje, the "Little Dove of Peace", stood on the site of this church
When all religions were formally put on an equal footing after the French invasion and the proclamation of the Batavian Republic, Catholics were officially permitted to build churches. A constitutional reform half a century later guaranteed absolute freedom of worship and of church assembly, and abolished the last remaining restrictions on Catholics altogether.
The church built on the site of the clandestine Catholic parish was named De Duif, "The Dove"
