When the trains suddenly stopped running and I had to take a long route via Amsterdam Zuid … I caught a glimpse of a massive artwork as my bus was making a turn. I had to go back! As it turned out, the gigantic statue is on the forecourt of…
Category: North Holland
Amsterdam
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Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names
As I entered this garden, I found myself in a labyrinth of passages flanked by two-meter-high brick walls. The dramatic angular stainless steel mirrors seemed to be hovering above the columns. Upon closer look, names, date of birth and age of death were inscribed on individually stacked bricks. This is…
Amsterdam
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Underwater Underground Bike Parking
For years and years, the construction in front of the Amsterdam Central Station went on and on like a never-ending situation. The water in the Open Havenfront was pumped out, the site was rebuilt, reconstructed and transformed. Something about the excavated pit with anchored sheet piling walls and micropiles (anchor…
Amsterdam
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De Schaduwkade Monument
So, I stumbled on to another bridge with a story … This time, I stood here across the Amstel overlooking the Schaduwkade (Shadow Wall) Monument on my left. A monument to two hundred Jewish residents of the Nieuwe Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, who were deported and murdered during the Second World…
Amsterdam
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Joes Kloppenburgbrug
A bridge with a story to tell … In Dutch as written on the plate … “17 augustus 1996 vrijdagnacht halfvijf in de Voetboogstraat te Amsterdam. Vier dronken, opgefokte jongens zoeken ruzie met cafégangers en een zwerver. Ook twee studenten moeten het ontgelden. Zij worden volledig in elkaar geslagen. Joes…
Amsterdam
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The Cuypers Library
One of the most iconic spots in Rijksmuseum and possibly the whole of Amsterdam … This is Rijksmuseum Research Library located within the museum building. It is the largest public art history research library in the Netherlands and one of the oldest art libraries in the world. Its primary purpose…