€10,000 for final resting place near Rembrandt in new crypt at Amsterdam's Westerkerk

Anyone with deep pockets and the inclination for it can soon get a final resting place near Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn. For €10,000, you can reserve a spot for your urn in Amsterdam’s Westerkerk’s new crypt for ten years. The church hopes to raise enough money to restore its floor, John Faasse of the Friends of the Westerkerk foundation told AT5.

“Half the Rijksmuseum lies here,” Faasse joked. “Almost every stone in the Westerkerk is a tombstone.”

The church is now planning to build a new crypt for urns to be used by regular Amsterdammers. The first 150 spots in the crypt will go for €10,000 each, guaranteeing ten years in the presence of Rembrandt for your ashes.

The hefty price tag is to raise money for the construction of the crypt and the restoration of the church’s floor. Like many other churches in the Netherlands, the Westerkerk is suffering from shrinking peat soil, and the floor needs to be replaced. The operation is expected to cost around €4 million.

“Once we have allocated those first 150 spots, we hope to offer cheaper spots as well, so that every Amsterdammer who wishes can have their final resting place here. Because I can hardly imagine a more beautiful place,” Faasse said to the Amsterdam broadcaster.