AMSTERDAM'S BUILDINGS

GOODBYE AMSTERDAM - FEBRUARY 2006

This is the last post from the February 2006 visit to Amsterdam, and after the Water I'll show some Buildings. This also represents that my delay in posting is now reduced to 21 months "only"...


"THE ROYAL THEATRE CARRÉ got its name from the French/German Carré family of riders and circus' artists. The family Carré performed in the Netherlands for the first time in September 1863 and the patriarch - Oscar Carré - performed for the last time in his theatre on the 12th of April 1909 before going on tour and dying on June 29, 1911, in Copenhagen. After many vicissitudes, the city council bought the theatre on the 1st of January 1977 and Carré became a real theatre for Amsterdam, open nowadays 365 days a year"


"TYPICAL BUILDING at Oudezijds Voorburgwaal"


"OUDE KERK - The old church has almost as many chapels as there have been building phases: the earliest building phase seems to have started at the turn of the 13th and 14th century; around 1380 the north-transept was built, in 1412 the crossing with the aisles, and in 1460 the southtransept. The «Oude Kerk» had to close its doors in 1951 because of the danger of collapsing, but was saved by the «Stichting de Oude Kerk». The foundation had two aims: conservation of the building and opening it to the public. The total restauration was completed in 1979, and on the 14th of March 1979 the building was opened to the public"


"THE BEURS VAN BERLAGE was built from 1898 through 1903 by the architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934) for the Municipality of Amsterdam. There are two slogans on the bell tower of the Beurs van Berlage: «Bide Your Time» and «Await Your Hour»"


"THE ROYAL PALACE, located on Dam Square, was originally built as the city hall for the magistrates of Amsterdam. In the 17-th century it was the largest secular building of Europe and today is one of the three Palaces placed at the Queen's disposal for official functions by Act of Parliament"



"THE NIEUWE KERK, located at the Dam Square, is famous for its exhibitions on treasures from other countries, cultures and religions. By the time I visited, it was Indonesia the main subject; in December 2007, we have Afghanistan. The church is also known as the place where the coronation of the Head of State as well of the national Remembrance Day service on 4 May takes place"


"THE KRASNAPOLSKY HOTEL, also located at Dam Square, is the largest 5-star hotel of the Benelux countries. The monumental glass palace or Winter Garden, dates from 1879 and is where breakfast and lunch is served"


"??? - Let your imagination find out what this is"


"CHESS AT EUWE PLACE - Machgielis (Max) Euwe became World Chess Champion (1935–1937), on December 15, 1935, when he defeated Alekhine, by 15.5-14.5, becoming the 5th World Chess Champion. Euwe however lost the title to Alekhine in a rematch in 1937 by 15.5-9.5"


"BEGIJNHOF - Around 1150, a group of women - the Beguines, not nuns - started to live in a religious community, primarily to look after the sick. On 23 May 1971, the last Beguine, Sister Antonia, died at the age of 84. The Beguinage is thus no longer a true beguinage since 1971"


"HOTEL DE L'EUROPE - A beautiful building at the Rokin"


"TUCHINSKI THEATRE - A beautiful place where one may enjoy movies with champagne... "


"ST. NIKOLAAS CHURCH"


"WESTERKERK quite close to Anne Frank's House"


"REMBRANT PLEIN with a sculpure of the The Night Watch or The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq"

AMSTERDAM BY THE WATER

AROUND THE CANALS - FEBRUARY 2006

Some name Amsterdam "The Venice of the North". I think it’s a bit unjust, as Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and does have its own personality, without needing the reference to Venice to affirm its own credentials. Amsterdam’s canals, lined by beautiful mansions and old trees, divide the city into ninety small islands, linked together by more than a thousands bridges. This post is dedicated to a stroll around Amsterdam's canals!


"SINGELGRACHT, near the Rijksmuseum – The Singelgracht became the outer limit of the city of Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th Century. The glass-topped barges offer one-hour canal tours around town"


"SINGELGRACHT – American Hotel and Holland Casino International"


"SINGELGRACHT - Hard Rock Café; of course, there is one in Amsterdam! By the water"


"AMSTEL - According to Wikipedia, Amsterdam took its name from the Amstel river. The city developed out of a small fishing village called «Amstelredam», built in the 13th century alongside a dam at the mouth of the river, and was granted city rights around 1300. The Amstel Intercontinental Hotel is one of the best places to stay!"


"MAGERE BRUG (The Skinny Bridge), built around 1670, is a wooden bridge that connects the banks of the Amstel river at Kerkstraat, between Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht"


"PRINSENGRACHT, with houseboats"


"PRINSENGRACHT, with beautiful houses"


"THE STOPERA houses both the city hall of Amsterdam and the Muziektheater, home to De Nederlandse Opera, Het Nationale Ballet, and the Holland Symfonia. The curved front façade of the theatre faces the Amstel River and encloses the 14 metre high open foyers. The exterior of the theatre is built of Friesian red bricks, partly clad in Carrara marble"



"HERENGRACHT (The Gentlemen's Canal) is the first of the three major canals in Amsterdam's city centre. This is the interesting bridge next to the Amstel River"


"HERENGRACHT also has some of the most beautiful mansions in Amsterdam's city centre"


"THE NETHERLANDS MARITIME MUSEUM, housed in the National Naval Depot, which is a former arsenal of the Dutch Navy, brings you back to the past times of the Golden Age and of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)"


"OUDEZIJDS VOORBURGWAAL (what an incredible name) is in the heart of the red-light district, but also has some typical Amsterdam town mansions built for wealthy merchants. The upper floors of the mansions were used as storage space for commodities, which were hoisted up and pulled inside"


"SPIEGELGRACHT – It seems that around the corner is the antiques boulevard of Amsterdam, and though it covers only a 4-block stretch, it's said to be one of Europe's finest antiques hunting grounds. At one end is the Rijksmuseum; at the other is Herengracht's Golden Bend, where Amsterdam's wealthiest burghers once lived in magnificent mansions that have been turned over to banks and embassies. Among the items you might see are old dolls, rare editions, Indonesian puppets, Persian tapestries, landscape paintings, candlesticks, music boxes, old Dutch clocks, and, of course, the little spiegels, or mirrors, that give its name to the canal"


"BLOEMENGRACHT, quite close to Anne Frank's house - now a museum - is one of the smaller canals, which is especially pleasant"


"HOUSEBOAT at night"

MUSEUMS IN AMSTERDAM

A CULTURAL WALK - FEBRUARY 2006

In February 2006, the Van Gogh Museum decided to show a comparative exhibition of paintings from Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Furthermore, the Rijksmuseum was undergoing renovation works, and thus was showing 400 of its masterpieces concentrated in a small space. So, it seemed a nice occasion to get back to Amsterdam and that's what I did! Here, we may see the pictures of a cultural stroll through town!


"CONCERTGEBOUW - In 1881 plans started to be made to provide Amsterdam with a proper concert hall worthy of the name. On 11 April 1888, almost two years after the building itself was completed; the grand opening took place at this wonder of neoclassical architecture. Bernard Haitink, who leaded the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1961 through 1988, once described the Concertgebouw as the best instrument in the orchestra!"


"THE VAN GOGH MUSEUM, with its two buildings (the main designed by Gerrit Rietveld and opened in 1973, and the Exhibition Wing by Kisho Kurokawa completed in 1999), is probably my favourite museum in Amsterdam. Further to the fabulous Van Gogh collection of paintings, it also usually holds some special exhibitions of masterpieces from around the globe. This was the case for the Rembrandt-Caravaggio, and there I was for the opening"


"THE RIJKSMUSEUM is one of the richest museums in the world. It has been housed, since 1885, in architect Pierre Cuypers' building on the Museumplein, and since 2003 through 2009 is undergoing huge renovation works. A nice opportunity to see the masterpieces concentrated"


"SELF-PORTRAIT - Blurred!"





"MASTERPIECES - I hesitated to post these pictures, as they're also somehow blurred; but finally couldn't resist... Vermeer (1632-1675) has now only 35 paintings attributed to him; but they're all stunning. The love letter is part of the main lot; Jan Steen (1626-1679) is probably the most amazing of the Dutch; his sense of humour is fantastic. Frans Hals (1580-1666) is a fantastic portrait painter. And Rembrandt (1606-1669) is Rembrandt!"


"THE WILLET-HOLTHUYSEN MUSEUM, on Herengracht at number 605, was built between 1685 and 1687. Having had Abraham Willet and his wife Louisa Holthuysen as last residents, the latter left the house with its contents and her husband's art collection to the city in 1895 on condition the house became a museum. It's a quite nice small museum, actually the only fully furnished patrician house on Amsterdam's canals open daily to the public"






"WILLET'S COLLECTIONS AND GARDEN - The original arrangement of the rooms has remained intact over the years, and the porcelain and crystal collection is quite interesting. The garden is amazing, taking into account its surroundings!"


"NEMO - The Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed NeMo, the giant boat-like building, looking like a ship docked at Oosterdok, for the National Centre for Science and Technology. It's an amazing construction, like most of Renzo Piano's buildings (remember Centre Pompidou, Paris)"


"STEDELIJK CS. - The main Municipal museum at Museumplein is also under renovation. But the Stedelijk is holding some exhibitions at the temporary location CS. When I visited, there was one with photos from Rineke Dijkstra. These were taken in Portugal, and show three «forcados», the guys that perform the face catch of the bulls in Portuguese style bullfights..."

AMSTERDAM BY NIGHT

LEIDSEPLEIN TO REMBRANTSPLEIN - FEBRUARY 2006

Sorry, no Red-light District photos…


"THE AMERICAN HOTEL, in Leidseplein and at walking distance from the Rijksmuseum, the van Gogh Museum and the Vondel Park, is listed since 1977 as an Art Nouveau monument. The hotel seems to have been first designed by Steinigeweg, a Dutch architect who lived in the United States and returned to the Netherlands with plans for his hotel in the «American style». Built around 1880, was demolished in 1900, rebuilt in 1902, extended in 1927-1929 and re-extended in 1954"


"HOTEL ROOM"



"THE CAFÉ AMERICAIN has been part of the American Hotel since 1902. In 1993, it was decided to restore the Café. It re-opened on September 1st, 1993, displaying «the most beautiful reading table in the Netherlands», dating from 1929. On the walls we could see original 1930 oil paintings from Shakespeare’s play «A Midsummer Night’s Dream». In August 2005 the Café was again renovated and completely brought back to its original Art-Deco Style"


"CASINO – Gaming machines, Roulette, Blackjack, Poker…"


"THE DAM, 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south, is the main square in Amsterdam. On the south side of the Dam stands the phallic National Memorial, erected in memory of Dutch soldiers and members of the resistance who died in WW2. The 1956 monument stores soil from all of Holland’s provinces as well as from the Dutch East Indies"


"THE WAAG (the Weigh House), located in the part of Amsterdam that never sleeps – Nieuwmarkt – was originally built in 1488 as a city gate (Sint Antoniespoort) and as such it formed part of the medieval defences. It is the oldest secular public building in Amsterdam. It now houses the Restaurant-Café In de Waag"


"ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH - On a Sunday in November (in 2007 it was on the 18th), St. Nicholas, known as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, arrives in Amsterdam. The steamboat from Spain docks by the Central Station across from the Church. Bells ring, as the mayor welcomes the Saint before he mounts his white horse. A big parade starts at noon, and thousands of sacks with sweets are thrown to the crowds. The parade goes along the Damrak to the Rembrandtplein coming to an end at the Leidesplein. Here, from the balcony of the city theatre, Sinterklaas addresses crowds and «Sinterklaas Season» officially begins"


"REMBRANTSPLEIN is a beautiful little park named in honour of Rembrandt van Rijn. A statue of the painter is the focal point. In February 2006, there was a huge sculpture of the famous Night Watch painting in the park"


"INDRAPURA is a nice Indonesian Restaurant in Rembrantsplein. Its motto is: «No Cheese...No Klomps...No Windmills...Just the Best Rijsttafel you can get». A good dinner choice in Amsterdam"


"RIJSTAFEL - The origin of the concept is difficult to trace. According to a legend it goes back to the actual table used by the Dutch settlers in Indonesia. A traditional Indonesian meal is always based on white rice (with calming effect in combination with spicy dishes) and one fish or meat dish. In colonial days a meal like this seemed not to satisfy the appetite of the Dutch planters, so a greater variety of dishes was added. It is this large amount of tasty dishes that as a whole forms today’s rijsttafel"