South Church. Gorgeous enough to have inspired both Sir Christopher Wren and Monet, this famous church was built between 1603 and 1611 by Hendrick de Keyser, one of the most prolific architects of Holland's Golden Age. Legend has it this church hypnotized the great British architect Wren, who went on to build London's St. Paul's Cathedral (which spitefully superceded Keyser's own Westerkerk as the world's largest Protestant church); centuries later, Monet committed the Zuiderkerk to canvas. It was one of the earliest churches built in Amsterdam in the Renaissance style and was the first in the city to be built for the Dutch Reformed Church. The church's hallowed floors -- under which three of Rembrandt's children are buried and on which the surplus of corpses were stored during the Hunger Winter of 1945 -- are now under the reign of the City Planning Office and as such are filled with detailed models of Amsterdam's ambitious future building plans. The church tower -- a soaring accumulation of columns, brackets, and balustrades -- is one of the most glorious exclamation points in Amsterdam; glorious, too, are the panoramic views from its balconies. Its bells are played every Thursday between noon and 1. COST: Free.