The hidden church at Amsterdam’s Our Lord in the Attic Museum testifies how freedom of conscience and religion in Europe in the XVII century that was guaranteed in several European treaties intended to end the cycle of war and violence and laid the foundation for the free democracy in Europe.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion are central to the European idea of rule of law, anchored in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Europe has a long history of religious strife, to which the many examples of hidden places of worship attest.