LITURGICAL VESTMENTS IN REPRESSION Paraments in the Dutch Republic as Bearers of Identity, 1580-1650 Liturgical vestments are the most striking and most valuable components of the material culture of the Catholic Church. The Reformation that was implemented in the Northern Netherlands around 1580 and the subsequent innovations prescribed by Rome had major consequences for these treasures. During this period, the Catholics in the Dutch Republic were driven to the margins of society. They were initially forced to congregate in private houses. It was not until the course of the seventeenth century that hidden churches were created. Nevertheless, as early as the sixteenth century, a start was made on reassembling a church inventory and a basic wardrobe with salvaged items. At the same time, new liturgical vestments were made as well. How were design and symbolism applied in the liturgical vestments to confirm the past of the church (continuity) on the one hand and to renew the church from within (discontinuity) on the other? In this interdisciplinary research, the unique collection of church vestments of Museum Catharijneconvent and the collections of several Old Catholic churches in our country form the research material. Combined with archival research, literature study and research in contemporary sources, a new story about identity and oppression emerges.