The Key Keeper
There's no way back...
The adventure begins. Descend into the heart of The Amsterdam Dungeon in the medieval lift. Hear the gears grinding against each other and the chains creaking. But do not worry, the lift almost never falls.
You will come face to face with our key keeper. Is this the beginning of your end?
With a hopefully functioning lift, the key keeper lowers you into the underground darkness. Hear the gears grinding and the chains creaking. The question is: will the chains hold your weight?
Explore once you have reached the bottom. Do not forget to enjoy the screams of the executioner’s victims. Chances are, you will soon sound the same.
Buy now
Historical background
Beneath the Royal Palace on Dam Square lies a dark vault. This is the site of the former ‘boeijen’, an extensive complex of cells where, between 1655 and 1808, around 35.000 suspects and convicted prisoners were held. The very heart of this small penal colony was the so-called ‘torture chamber’. Here, confessions were extracted under torture. Those sentenced to death also spent their final hours here in complete isolation. Between 1655 and 1798, over a thousand suspects were tortured in this room.
Anyone suspected of a criminal offence in the 17th century was first heard by the bailiff and aldermen in the Aldermen’s Chamber of the Palace on Dam Square. They were the public prosecutor and judges of that time. In the case of serious crimes where the death penalty might apply, a decision could be made to carry out torture. The death penalty was, in fact, only carried out if a suspect had confessed. It was assumed that, through torture, the suspect would no longer be able to concentrate on his lies and would therefore be forced to tell the truth. Present were one of the aldermen, a clerk to record the suspect’s statements, and the assistant to the jailer in charge of the shackles, who carried out the actual torture.
If the accused had confessed and the death penalty had been imposed, a wooden scaffold was erected against the palace where the sentence was carried out. This took place about three times a year. The death penalty could be carried out in various ways: beheading, hanging, breaking on the wheel or strangulation. The latter was carried out in May 1664 on 18-year-old Elsje Christiaans.
