The Oude Kerk (Old Church) of Hindeloopen is a 13th-century Gothic church that has stood through the town's prosperous centuries and its long decline. The interior is relatively plain but the building itself — sitting slightly above the narrow streets on a raised terrace — has the compressed dignity you find in many old Frisian churches, built to last rather than to impress.
The churchyard contains gravestones from the town's maritime heyday, many of them for sailors and ship captains. The church is open for visits in summer and serves as a concert venue during the summer season. From the churchyard there are views over the rooftops toward the IJsselmeer that give a good sense of how small and self-contained Hindeloopen has always been.