Royal Palace (Koninklijk Paleis)

The Royal Palace in Amsterdam (Koninklijk Paleis te Amsterdam in Dutch) is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which is at the disposal of Queen Beatrix by Act of Parliament. It is situated in the west side of Dam Square in the centre of Amsterdam, opposite the War Memorial and next to the Nieuwe Kerk. It was built by Jacob van Campen, who took control of the construction project in 1648, as the Town Hall for the City of Amsterdam, and was built on 13,659 wooden piles and cost 8,5 million gulden. A yellowish sandstone from Bentheim in Germany was used for the entire building (the stone has darkened considerably in the course of time), while only marble was considered good enough for the interior.

Jacob van Campen was inspired by Roman administrative palaces. He drew inspiration from the public buildings of Rome, so he wanted to build a new Capitol was for the Amsterdam burgomasters who thought of themselves as the consuls of the new Rome of the North. The glory of the Dutch Republic in general and the city of Amsterdam in particular yielded the most important historic and cultural monument of 17th century Holland. The technical implementation was looked after by the town construction master Daniel Stalpaert. The sculptures ware made by Artus Quellijn.

The interior is of dazzling richness. The central hall is huge: 120 feet long, 60 feet wide and 90 feet high. On the marble floor one sees the two maps of the world. The Western and Eastern hemisphere are shown and in it the colonial influencial area of Amsterdam. The hemispheres are made in the 18th century, showing the paths that the VOC-ships sailed over the whole world in the 17th century. On top of the palace is a large domed cupola, topped by a weather vane in the form of a Cog ship. This ship is a symbol of Amsterdam. Just underneath the dome there are a few windows from where one could see the ships arrive and leave the harbour to sail through the "IJ" into the Zuider Zee and on to the rest of the world.

It was opened on 20th July 1655 by the leaders of the city. The interiors, focusing on the power and prestige of Amsterdam, were completed later, the paintings ware mainly made by Govert Flinck, Jan Lievens and Ferdinand Bol. In those days it was regarded to be the 8th World Wonder and it was for a long time the largest administrative building in Europe. Source wikipedia

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