Dan Brown opens Embassy of the Free Mind
Dan Brown opens Embassy of the Free Mind
A NEW PLATFORM FOR CULTURE, MUSIC, ART, SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY OPENED IN THE HOUSE WITH THE HEADS ON AMSTERDAM’S KEIZERSGRACHT THIS SATURDAY.
Bestseller author Dan Brown opened the centre in the monumental city mansion. The Embassy of the Free Mind will open its doors to the public from 1 November.
The Embassy of the Free Mind is set to become an international centre with a range of functions, including a café, a centre of knowledge and a space for study. The Embassy of the Free Mind aims to promote 'free thinking' through culture, art, science and spirituality. Its programme will include talks and lectures, but the Embassy is also a place for mysticism and philosophy.
The centre will also accommodate the 25,000 works of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. This Amsterdam library specializing in works on such areas as Western esotericism, mysticism, alchemy, Rosicrucians and Kabbalah, was founded by Joost Ritman sixty years ago. After a crisis in 2011, when the bank attached the collection, the books and manuscripts returned to Amsterdam. Dan Brown, who is a big fan of the library and drew inspiration here for his work, donated 300,000 Euros in 2016 to Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, commonly known as The Ritman Library.
At the opening Joost Ritman was awarded the Frans Banninck Cocq medal by deputy mayor Pieter Litjens in recognition of his efforts on behalf of culture in Amsterdam.
