DAM SQUARE

Description

Essentials about Dam Square in brief

The Dam is the central main square of the city of Amsterdam and the most famous city square in the Netherlands. It lies at the center of the medieval city center and is the site of numerous buildings of national importance, such as the Royal Palace, the Nieuwe Kerk and the National Monument.

The history of Dam Square

The name Dam goes back to the construction of a dam and a lock on the river Amstel at the end of the 13th century. This dam on the Amstel River also gave its name to the entire city. The diking of river mouths became necessary to shorten the coastline, which was endangered by storm surges. Such dikes included sluices to allow river water to pass through and not impede navigation. In addition, there was the important function for the water balance. While the Amstel below the dam was open to the mouth of the IJ and thus to the North Sea and was subject to the tides of the sea, the water level above the dam could be regulated by opening and closing the lock itself and thus kept largely constant. By deliberately opening the sluice gates during an ebb tide, river water could be flushed into the sea with great force, thus disposing of urban sewage from the city and even deepening the navigation channel of the harbor located in the Amstel estuary.

The dam thus closed the gap in the sea wall on the southern bank of the IJ and at the same time created for the first time a fixed road connection across the Amstel, linking the two existing settlement cores on both sides of the river. At the end of the Middle Ages, the dike crest was widened to create space for a town square. The Dam Square served as the town’s central marketplace, where ships could also dock.

This possibility was eliminated in the 19th century, when the Damrak, the lower course of the Amstel leading to the IJ, was filled in and developed into a magnificent boulevard. The square was extended to the north in the 1910s and combined into the urban unit we know today. The Amstel above Dam Square, the Rokin, was given riverside roads in 1913 but was also filled in 1933-36, making Dam Square inaccessible by boat even from the south. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Dam Square evolved from Amsterdam’s central marketplace to a national “forum,” the focal point of the nation, familiar to every Dutch person and the backdrop for important national events, demonstrations and commemorations.

The Royal Palace of Amsterdam

The dominant structure on Dam Square is the Royal Palace, which was built by the wealthy citizens as a new city hall during the city’s heyday in 1648-65 (the old Gothic city hall burned down). During the French occupation, Louis Bonaparte, appointed “King of Holland” by Napoleon, commandeered the town hall as his royal palace. After the expulsion of the French in 1813, the City Hall was returned to the city, but after its purchase by the Dutch royal family in 1939, it again became the royal palace. However, the royal family uses the huge structure only for representational purposes and not as a residence.

The Nieuwe Kerk

The second large monument on Dam Square is known as the Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). The church was consecrated in 1409, the latest components in the northern transept were built in 1530-40 in Renaissance style. The largest church in the Old Town has no towers, and construction work on them was stopped in 1563. The church burned down three times, the last time in 1645, but was restored in the original style each time. It was transferred from the Dutch Reformed Church to the hands of a foundation in 1979 and now serves as a cultural center, exhibition and concert hall. The weddings of the royal family and the blessings of the new kings and queens also take place here.

The National Monument

The third well-known structure on Dam Square is the National Monument, which since 1956 has commemorated the victims of the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in 1940-45. The central commemoration ceremony is held here annually on May 4, the Dutch National Day of Mourning. On the other days, the monument is a popular meeting place for young people, tourists and pigeons.

Other buildings on Dam Square

Other large buildings on Dam Square include the Krasnapolsky Hotel on the east side of the square and the large De Bijenkorf department store on the northeast side. On the south side of the square, between Rokin and Kalverstraat, the well-known wax museum Madame Tussauds is located in the Peek & Cloppenburg department store.