Amsterdam’s bollards are a creative solution to a practical problem. It’s hard enough driving around the city centre in a car these days; it was not much easier in the eighteenth century with a horse and carriage. Bollards were designed to keep damage to buildings and coaches to a minimum, and to stop horse and all falling into the canal. The first of today’s brown bollards, with their three saltire crosses, was installed in 1903. You will be seeing lots of these familiar Amsterdammertjes on this tour.

Amsterdammertje

Arti et Amicitiae - which means For Art and Friendship - is a club: a society for artists and art-lovers. Arti has been based here since it was founded in 1839 - although the building has undergone several changes over the years. Inside, it houses a private club, boardrooms and an exhibition gallery. Arti’s exhibitions consistently focus on contemporary art. Each year, work by new members is shown in a series of special presentations. Notice the four figures by Franz Stracké on the façade: these symbolise architecture, painting, sculpture and graphic art. Stracké also created the ox head in the pediment.

Arti & Amicitiae

The building at Oude Turfmarkt 145 links two major artists from Amsterdam’s past: architect Philips Vingboons and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. It was one of a twin pair of houses designed by Vingboons and erected in 1642. In 1884, number 147 made way for a new revival-style structure. Philips Vingboons was a leading architect in the Dutch Golden Age. The houses were commissioned by Pieter Janszoon Sweelinck. Hence the name. He was the son of composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk appointed Sweelinck as their resident organist around 1580. His reputation grew and his fame spread. Hundreds would come to listen to his recitals at the church. Sweelinck organised popular walk-in concerts during the week to appeal to a wide audience. His virtuoso playing earned him the nickname ‘Orpheus of the Amstel’.

Sweelinckhuis

They often lay out the red carpet for international film premieres in this street. Tuschinski is Holland’s best known cinema. Abraham Tuschinski, a Jewish businessman who had made it in the textile trade, opened the theatre in 1921. He had already built a couple of cinemas in Rotterdam. Tuschinski realised that Amsterdam needed something special. As he said himself: “Amsterdam has plenty of theatres, so if I build one it has to be better than all the rest: as grand as a temple and as beautiful as a palace, a theatre without equal in Europe, which will have even Amsterdam’s satiated audience gasping with amazement.” The design for the Amsterdam cinema was by architect H.L. de Jong. Its fairytale interior combines different styles: Amsterdam School, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Take a look inside, the foyer is open and free.

Tuschninski

Amsterdam has the biggest theatre scene in the Netherlands. De Kleine Komedie by the River Amstel is one of the city’s many venues. When it was founded in 1786, it was known as Theatre Français sur l’Erwtemarkt: the French Theatre on Pea Market. Its patrons included Napoleon himself and king Willem I. Later, the theatre changed its name and its function. By the Thirties, known then as Salvatori, De Kleine Komedie was being used to park bicycles. After the Second World War, Pierre and Tilly Perin-Bouwmeester reopened the theatre as De Kleine Komedie. It quickly became the country’s temple of cabaret and now regularly hosts new and established artists.

De Kleine Komedie

Droog Design develops and sells products designed by Dutch designers and known for their typically Dutch character. Gijs Bakker and Renny Ramakers set up the platform in 1993, since when it has developed into an internationally famous brand. Droog means dry: the dry humour of the designs in their collection. A wine glass as a doorbell, or a chair made of rope and clothes. Droog Design is known around the world. Its office and a shop are in the historical monument Saaihal, once the centre of Amsterdam’s textile trade.

Droog Design

Staalhof has nothing to do with steel. Here staal refers to cloth samples. This was the centre of Amsterdam’s cloth trade in the seventeenth century. At Staalhof, syndics inspected the quality of fabric samples - known as stalen. In the complex, soy was traded at saaihal; woollen cloth at lakenhal and silk at zijdehal. Only the first survives. Soy, was a light, woollen material. Today the building houses Droog Design. Lakenhal was at Groenburgwal 42, where the English Episcopal church now stands. It was here that Rembrandt’s famous portrait of the Syndics hung until 1771. This celebrated painting is now on show at the Rijksmuseum.

Staalhof

One of Amsterdam&rsquo;s most controversial buildings is Stopera. The word combines Stadhuis, meaning town hall, and Opera. It was designed by architects Cees Dam and Wilhelm Holzbauer. Amsterdam&rsquo;s city council approved the plan for a new town hall and opera theatre in 1980. People in Amsterdam, as well as architects, criticised the design, and the combination of the functions of town hall and music theatre. A protest campaign was started, but to no avail. The complex was completed in 1986. Stopera&rsquo;s Muziektheater is specially created to stage opera and ballet performances. It is the home of De Nederlandse Opera and Nationale Ballet.

Stopera

Since the 1980s, various sculptures have appeared unannounced at locations around Amsterdam. These are attributed to the mysterious Unknown Sculptor. There is even one at the entrance to Stopera. This figure, a violinist, was placed there in 1991. Who the artist is remains the subject of speculation. Some have suggested it may be Princess Beatrix. Yet still the name remains a secret. The Unknown Sculptor has given the statues to the city on condition that the person’s identity is never revealed.

The Unknown Artist

Six days a week, Waterlooplein is home to the biggest flea market in Amsterdam. Waterlooplein was originally created in 1882, and named a year later after the battle of Waterloo of 1815. When it was finished, the city ordained that the mainly Jewish traders with stalls on Jodenbreestraat should relocate to the new square. Since then the square has been a market, which is now closed only on Sundays. In the late Sixties, Waterlooplein became popular among the many hippies, Dutch and foreign, who bought their secondhand clothes at the flea market. Today you can find an amazing range of recycled clothes, curiosities, old photos and prints.

Flea Market

Rembrandt van Rijn was one of the leading Dutch Masters of the seventeenth century. This area was famous for the many artists and merchants who lived here. The house was Rembrandt’s home from 1639 to 1658. He died in 1669 and was buried at Amsterdam’s Westerkerk. Today, it is a museum dedicated to the artist himself. His apartments and studio have been reconstructed inside. It has been furbished with art, furniture and other seventeenth-century objects based on an inventory of his estate. Rembrandt House also features demonstrations of etching and painting techniques, showing how the master worked. The presentation gives an idea of what life was like in the time of Rembrandt.

Rembrandthuis

Standing at Sint Antonie-sluis, with your back to Rembrandt House, you can see a truly unusual building. There in the distance lies NEMO: Amsterdam’s educational science centre. It was designed in 1997 by Italian architect Renzo Piano, who also designed Centre Pompidou in Paris. Piano wanted NEMO to connect the city centre with the River IJ. Indeed the building seems to be rising out of the water like a huge ship. When you get there, remember to go up onto the roof. The view of the centre of Amsterdam and the River IJ is spectacular.

NEMO

The solitary building in the middle of Nieuwmarkt dates from the fifteenth century, when it was part of the town wall. Later it served as a weigh house: where officials checked the quantity of traders’ produce. Various guilds were based on the top floor. Each had its own entrance, reflected in the emblems above each of the doors. The surgeons guild held public anatomy displays here in a theatre. An anatomical theatre is a circular room with a table in the centre on which the corpse or animal carcass to be dissected was laid. Around this, students and other spectators would gather on the tiered auditorium to watch. Dissections were only performed in the winter, since the bodies would soon begin to smell in the warm summer months. Rembrandt’s famous painting of the Anatomical Lesson by Dr Nicolaas Tulp shows a demonstration here in the anatomical theatre at the Weigh House on Nieuwmarkt.

Weigh House

One of the famous poets and playwrights of the Dutch Golden Age was Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero. He originally trained as a painter. It was only later that he took up literature. Born and bred in Amsterdam, he knew how to use the local vernacular. His reputation spread with his farces, comedies and tragedies. These plays provide a wonderful insight into everyday life of the time. In 1962, this sculpture was unveiled to mark Bredero’s 350th anniversary. The bronze statue illustrates a scene from his play, The Spanish Brabander. It shows Jerolimo Rodrigo, the main character in the play, trying to seduce a woman of easy virtue.

Bredero

For many years, Binnen Bantammerstraat was the heart Amsterdam’s China Town. It was in 1911, that the first migrants from China settled in the Binnen Bantammerstraat area. Amsterdam’s first Chinese restaurant opened around 1926: Kong Hing. At the time, it served the local Chinese population. After the war, Chinese food became more popular among the Dutch as well. Today, most of the local Chinese businesses and restaurants are on Zeedijk. There you can also see Europe’s largest Buddhist temple, He Hua Temple, built in authentic Chinese style.

Chinatown

Scheepvaarthuis is the first building designed entirely in the new architectural style known as Amsterdam School, one of the city’s greatest architectural movements. The expressive forms employed by Amsterdam School architects draw on expressive art. Scheepvaarthuis was erected in 1916, as a head office for six of Amsterdam’s shipping companies. The architects were Jan van der Mey, Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer. Among the artists involved in the decoration were Hildo Krop. Details in the design relate to trade and shipping. And even the shape of the building: the form suggests a massive passenger liner.

Scheepvaarthuis

Amsterdam has been known as a centre of creativity for centuries. During the Golden Age the city produced leading masters such as Rembrandt, while today fashion designers such as Viktor & Rolf are internationally acclaimed. Creativity includes more than world-renowned art and fashion: the creative industry is one of Amsterdam’s leading economic sectors. Amsterdam residents develop their own city in creative ways. This route features a wonderful part of Amsterdam taking in various locations that connect with creativity. The first stop is in front of Amsterdam Museum, in Sint Luciensteeg. This walk is one of a series of Amsterdam DNA Tours: thematic routes through the city linked to the Amsterdam DNA exhibition. Check out all four routes on Enterprise, Freedom of Thought, Creativity and Civic Virtue. Enjoy your walk!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam DNA - Creativity

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