In 1345, a chapel was built in honour of the Miracle of Amsterdam in the Kalverstraat: the Chapel of the Holy Stead. The chapel stood between the Kalverstraat and the Rokin for almost 600 years, until the church was demolished on 10 July 1908.

The remains of the Holy Stead must be preserved at all costs. Shortly after the demolition, building fragments were bought by the Amstelkring Foundation (now Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder). In the museum, the debris of the holy place is cherished and elevated to Catholic heritage.

Unfortunately, not all debris ends up so well. Between July and October 1908, more than 500 building fragments were purchased and transported to the Lapidarium of the Rijksmuseum. From this location, many pieces have been moved several times to other depots and municipal storages. The centuries-old debris is generally quite poorly handled and protected. Jan Sterck (1859-1941), historian and co-founder of Museum Amstelkring, writes in a testimony about the move; 'All those important specimens of old sculpture were loaded and crashed on wagons by municipal workers over and over each other.'

From the second half of the 20th century, many debris lost sight of. Only a few are given a safe place in a museum or depot. Most of the stones stored in the Amsterdam Municipal Depot start to wander. Some pieces reappeared in the sixties in the workshops of antique dealers who made wall consoles and side tables from the debris. Other building fragments disappear underground as dike reinforcement or are dumped into allotments by truck.

The life of the building fragments of the Holy Stead is a tragedy in three acts: the demolition, the wandering and the loss.