Paradiso is a music venue and cultural center at Weteringschans 6-8 in Amsterdam. A theological group called De Vrije Gemeente, or The Free Congregation, built it between May 24, 1879, and May 2, 1880, as a religious building and meeting center.
The congregation sold it in 1965. A planned hotel linked to Gerrit Rietveld never happened, and the building was briefly a carpet store. Squatters led by Willem de Ridder occupied it in October 1967, and it opened on March 30, 1968, as Cosmisch Ontspanningscentrum Paradiso.
The main hall seats 1,500 and keeps church-like features, including large stained glass windows behind the stage. This earned it the nickname "Pop Temple." An upper hall holds 250. It joined the national monuments register in 1980.
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