Keizersgracht 123, former home of Monumentenzorg, the organisation in charge of taking care of Amsterdam's thousands of officially recognised monuments, has been bought from the city council by art collector Joost Ritman for 'secret' amount of money, reports the Parool. Ritman started his Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in 1957, which now runs to 20,000 books and texts. He plans to use the building to state exhibitions and congresses.

Het Huis met de Hoofden is attributed to Pieter de Keyser (Hendrick's son) and was built in 1622. It is one of the largest double houses of the period and has a fine stepped gable. Legend has it that the six heads on the doric pillars along the facade were erected in remembrance of a housemaid, who surprised and cut of the heads of six burglars. They are, in fact, portrayals of six gods: left to right Apollo, Ceres, Mars, Pallas Athene, Bacchus and Diana.