Famous landmarks and monuments in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a beautiful city with countless monuments and famous landmarks. Just like Paris and London it’s a world city with lots of class and a rich history. It can be a joy in itself to just stroll alongside the romantic canals of Amsterdam. Or walk through the bristling inner city and discover all the best places to see. You’ll probably see more unique centuries old buildings than can be mentioned on any page. There are historical monuments, things to see and awesome places to visit all across Amsterdam. But to give you a taste of what you will find we made a selection of the most notable landmarks and most famous monuments in Amsterdam.
Oude Kerk
The “Old Church” is the oldest building of Amsterdam as it was build around the year 1200. Over the years it has turned from a small wooden chapel into the large church we see today. The protestant church is known as ‘Amsterdam’s living room’ as it used to be a meeting place for all walks of life in Amsterdam. One notable feature of this church is it’s location. The church is curiously located in the heart of the ever so lively Amsterdam red light district and can be used as a reference point to find it.
Royal Palace of Amsterdam
The Royal Palace of Amsterdam is the only royal palace in the Netherlands that’s open to public for most of the year. It is located right in the heart of Amsterdam as it stands prominently on dam square. The palace is used to receive foreign heads of states, for ceremonial functions and historical art exhibitions. It’s a beautiful monument both on the inside and the outside with a long history. It was originally founded as the city hall of Amsterdam during the times of the Dutch republic. As it was the biggest non-religious building in the world it is a true testament to the Dutch people’s truly golden age. When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands the country turned into a monarchy and the city hall, a symbol for republicanism, turned into a royal palace.
Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank House is a monument, that also serves as a museum, dedicated to Anne Frank, who hid in this building during the holocaust. The diary of Anne Frank, her hiding place and exhibitions dedicated to persecution can be found here. The Anne Frank house is one of the more popular museum destinations of Amsterdam as it gives a good impression how life was under Nazi occupation.
Waag
The Waag was originally a city gate, but in the 17th century it turned into a waag, a weighing house. A place where several guilds were housed and you could weigh goods in a fair manner for a small fee. Having a weighing house was considered a privilege given only to cities and it was vital if you wanted your city to become a trade center. A noteworthy fact is that the Rembrandt painting ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’ was a group portrait made in this building.
Blauwbrug
Amsterdam is known for its many canals, which are historical monuments by themselves. One of the most beautiful bridges over the canals is the Blauwbrug, known in English as the Blue Bridge. It’s a bridge over the Amstel canalized river. The bridge was build in 1883 and used to be the gateway into the Jewish neighborhood of Amsterdam. The design of the bridge was inspired by the beautiful bridges over the French Seine.
Beurs van Berlage
Trade has always been an important aspect of Amsterdam. The world’s first stock market was also from Amsterdam. The Beurs van Berlage, named after the architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage, was build as a new trade center and stock exchange in 1898. In modern day it functions as a convention center. A role it suits perfectly as it’s well connected to Amsterdam Central Station. It also has a café where you can sit down and drink a cup of coffee during the day.
Magere Brug
The most famous landmark bridge in Amsterdam, which can also be viewed in the movie Diamonds Are Forever, is probably the Magere Brug. The name literally means the skinny bridge as the original bridge which was build in 1691 was notably quite narrow. The bridge has been replaced and renovated a couple times since then, yet it’s nickname, the skinny bridge, remained. The bridge goes over the Amstel river and is actually one of the hidden gems of Amsterdam. It’s a great place to visit to take pictures of the beautiful canals. At night the bridge shines bright as it’s decorated with many lights.
Magna Plaza
The Magna Plaza is an impressive building in Amsterdam. It’s architecture has a gothic revival style. It was build in 1895 to function as the main post office. Now it functions as a very luxurious shopping mall that’s open every day of the week. The shopping mall is located in the city center, but as it’s behind The Royal Palace shoppers often tend to miss it.
Oost-Indisch Huis
The Oost-Indisch Huis was build as the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, which was a powerful trade organisation and the first multinational company of the world. The Dutch East India Company was the richest business that has ever existed, with the power to form and rule over colonies, such as Indonesia. They were allowed to make treaties and declare war. It also had a gigantic war and trade fleet, capable of waging entire wars against other European nations, like England, Spain and Portugal, to enforce its commercial business. So the building has a long history it. The building also served as an archive and storage building for the company. Today it’s one of the many buildings of the University of Amsterdam.
De Gooyer
The Netherlands is the country of windmills, so we had to include at least one windmill in our list of monuments. At Meet The Cities our favorite windmill of Amsterdam is De Gooyer, which is the tallest wooden windmill in the Netherlands. The windmill has undergone many renovations since the 16th century and has even been moved around the city. But it stands in it’s current place since 1814. The windmill was used for grinding grains up until the 1960’s. Today the windmill is still being used from time to time, but it doesn’t grind any grain anymore. But it’s still a lovely piece of Holland.
Amsterdam Central Station
Amsterdam Central Station is the second busiest railway station of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has an extensive public transportation network, so you can reach any place in the Netherlands from here. This building is usually the first thing tourists see when they arrive in Amsterdam from Schiphol airport. This station was build in 1889. An amazing feature is that it’s located in the heart of Amsterdam on an artificial Island on the IJ river. This station also has a royal waiting room, build just in case the Dutch King wants to take the train.