ROYAL PALACE OF AMSTERDAM

Description

Essentials about the Royal Palace of Amsterdam in brief

The Palais op de Dam (Palace on Dam Square) is the Royal Palace located on Amsterdam’s central square, Dam Square. It was built from 1648 to 1665 – when Amsterdam was at the height of its power in the Golden Age – in the Dutch Classicist style as a city hall and was also used in this function until 1808. Only since then has the building been used as a royal palace for representational purposes and as a guest house for state guests, but not as the residence of the royal family of the Netherlands. If you also want to see the beautiful building from the inside, you can also visit the premises of the palace.

The history of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam

When Amsterdam’s old Gothic town hall had fallen into disrepair, the city’s mayor wanted the new town hall to be a symbol of Dutch independence and the peace that had finally been restored, but at the same time to show off the city’s wealth and the supremacy of the province of Holland. Apart from the mundane purposes of administration, administration of justice and city defense, it was thus planned as a status symbol of the country and its bourgeoisie.

The Royal Palace of Amsterdam is considered the most important historical and cultural building of the Dutch Golden Age. The poet Constantijn Huygens praised it as “the eighth wonder of the world, built with so much stone, and so much wood underneath,” because the building stands on an elaborate pile foundation in which 13,659 tree trunks were driven into the ground (if you want to remember the number, you can help yourself with the mnemonic of Dutch schoolchildren – the number of days in a year with a one in front and a nine behind). The town hall was inaugurated in 1655, but the building as a whole was not completed until ten years later. Work on the interior continued even until the beginning of the 18th century.

The architecture of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam

The architect, Jacob van Campen, was inspired in his plans by Roman administrative palaces; thus Roman, Greek, French, but also Calvinist influence can be found. The magnificent neoclassical building forms a quadrangle 80 meters long, 63 meters deep and 33 meters high, adorned in the center with a vaulted dome from which rises a tower 20 meters high, crowned with a weather vane in the shape of a Dutch cog. On the roof is a bronze statue commemorating the Peace of Westphalia, to the left and right of which are figures representing prudence and justice, referring to its original use as a town hall with a municipal administration and a court of justice.

The building was executed entirely in Bentheim sandstone, whose original color was eggshell, almost white, and over time discolored and darkened. Numerous statues, reliefs and murals adorn the building, the main pediment depicting an allegory of the city of Amsterdam as ruler of the seas. The entrance area occupies the entire width of the main gable and is advanced. At street level – with no “separating” curb to emphasize that the city hall should belong equally to all citizens – rise seven unadorned arches representing the seven provinces of the then Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

The Royal Palace of Amsterdam from inside

Inside, too, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam is a magnificent beauty. The comparatively small courtroom is the most magnificently furnished room, although color was largely dispensed with to emphasize its “somber purpose.” The main staircase leads to the 28-meter-high Citizen’s Hall, where Amsterdamers literally had the whole world laid at their feet. It represents the universe, with Amsterdam as the absolute center. In the surrounding gallery, the sun, moon and planets are placed in the corners to make it even clearer in which position the city saw itself. The walls are hung with allegorical paintings up to six meters high, many of them by Rembrandt’s students Ferdinand Bol and Govaert Flinck.

All the main halls are clad in marble, with higher wall sections concealed by deceptively marbled wood so as not to make the building unnecessarily heavy. This also applies to the 36-meter-long and 18-meter-wide Council Hall, one of the largest in Europe. The Empire furniture, a legacy of Louis Bonaparte, who as “Lodewijk Napoleon” became the first king of Holland and with whom the town hall became a royal palace, is striking. Sculptural decorations and paintings can be found in practically every room, and there are luminous ceiling frescoes in many rooms.

The Royal Palace of Amsterdam as a royal palace

In 1808, the building was transformed from the city hall into a residential palace for King Louis Bonaparte, who had chosen Amsterdam as his residence. Since then, the building is usually referred to as “Koninklijk Paleis” (Royal Palace). In 1813, after the withdrawal of the French, the palace was returned to the city of Amsterdam and initially served again as the city hall, but after the Congress of Vienna it became again the palace of the Dutch royal family in the course of the Restoration. In 1814, Willem I was enthroned here as sovereign prince. Until the time of Queen Wilhelmina, who often showed herself there, the palace was regularly used by the royal family.

Since then, members of the royal family have only been present for official receptions. In addition, the palace is used as a residence for state guests and other high visitors. Since 2009, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam is once again open to the public for tours.