Reconstructing the library: The ceiling

Although they are not visible in the room’s current state, the plans and sections made in 1974 - prior to the building’s conversion into a bank - show the presence of wooden beams on the ceiling. They also record their measurements. Paintings and engravings of early modern library interiors often depict ceilings with wooden beams. Therefore, in the reconstruction, I opted to keep the beams visible. However, it is also possible that they were covered as is currently the case.
Navigation note: if you have accessed this article via the edition’s annotation tags, the 3D ceiling is switched off to allow a top view of the library room, you can see the 3D reconstruction of the ceiling in Step 5 of Tour 3.

Detail of the 1974 sections showing the beams underneath the room's ceiling — Detail of the plans made in 1974 showing the presence of the wooden beams
under the modern ceiling (courtesy Monuments and Archaeology office,
Amsterdam municipality)

One engraving of the "Chambre des Raretez" of Nicolas Chevalier — One of the walls in "la chambre des raretez" of collector
Nicolas Chevalier (1661-1720). Note the beams on the ceiling
which in Chevalier's case are used to hang some of the 'curiosa'
in his extensive collection (from: Nicolas Chevalier,
Remarques sur la pièce antique de bronze: Trouvée depuis quelques
années aux environs, de Rome & proposée ensuite aux Curieux de l'Antiquité,
pour tâcher d'en découvrir l'usage. Avec une Description de la Chambre
des Raretez de l'Auteur (Amsterdam, 1694), p. 103).

References and further reading:

C. Piccoli, Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707) and his treffelyke bibliotheek (Brill, 2025), chapter 6.

Written by Chiara Piccoli