| Ouderkerk aan de Amstel | |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Native Name Lang: | nl |
| Image Map1: | Map NL - Ouder-Amstel - Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.svg |
| Map Caption1: | The town centre (dark green) and the municipal boundaries (light green) of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel in the municipality of Ouder-Amstel--> |
| Pushpin Map: | Netherlands#Netherlands North Holland |
| Pushpin Label Position: | top |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the Netherlands##Location in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | North Holland |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Ouder-Amstel Amstelveen |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | -0.9 |
| Area Total Km2: | 2.21 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 8,185 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 1191 |
| Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
| Area Code: | 020 |
| Coordinates: | 52.3°N 59°W |
Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (in Dutch; Flemish pronounced as /ˌʌudərkɛr(ə)k aːn də ˈʔɑmstəl/) is a town in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is largely a part of the municipality of Ouder-Amstel; it lies about 9 km south of Amsterdam. A small part of the town lies in the municipality of Amstelveen. It is connected to Amsterdam by the river Amstel. There is another village called Ouderkerk in South Holland, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel.
The village was first mentioned in 1308 as Ouderkerken, and means "old church". Old was probably added to distinguish from another village, however it is not clear which village. A candidate is Nieuwerkerk which disappeared in the Haarlemmermeer,[3] but it can also refer to Amstelveen. It most likely refers to Amstelveen since Amstelveen used to be called Nieuwer-Amstel.
Ouderkerk developed at the confluence of the Bullewijk into the Amstel river. The castle of the van Amstel family was probably located on across the present church, however it was destroyed in 1204. From the 17th century onwards, estates were built in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel by the Amsterdam merchants.[4]
The town is the site of the Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands,[5] as well as a neogothic Roman Catholic church that was designed by Pierre Cuypers in 1865.[6] The Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael created at least two renderings of the cemetery and a church, after his imagination[7]