The Royal Palace of Amsterdam in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

(Dutch: ''Koninklijk Paleis van Amsterdam'' or ) is one of three palaces in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

which are at the disposal of the monarch by Act of Parliament. It is situated on the west side of

Dam Square Dam Square or the Dam () is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital and most populated city of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the best-known and most important locations in the city and the country. ...

in the centre of

, opposite the

War Memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

and next to the Nieuwe Kerk. During the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

the public floors of the building became the first Amsterdam museum under

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

and later became his royal palace when Napoleon crowned him king. After the fall of Napoleon, it became the palace of the Dutch Royal House. The public floors still function as a museum and are open to the public most days of the year. The palace building was commissioned by Mayor Nicolaes Tulp as a large-scale construction project for a new

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, even before the old one burned down in 1652. It was completed in 1656 and became an international attraction for foreign visitors and the works of art installed in various public rooms were recorded and copied by various artists.

History

Town hall

The new town hall was opened on 29 July 1655 by Cornelis de Graeff, the mayor of Amsterdam. De Graeff's son Jacob de Graeff laid the foundation for this along with three other children. The main architect was Jacob van Campen, who took control of the construction project in 1648. It was built on 13,659 wooden piles. The old structure was next to the

Wisselbank The Bank of Amsterdam or Wisselbank () was an early bank, vouched for by the city of Amsterdam, and established in 1609. It was the first public bank to offer accounts not directly convertible to coin. As such, it has been described as the firs ...

, which in turn faced the weigh house next to the landing wharves along Damrak, which at that time would have been busy with ships. The fire on July 7th, 1652 was most disastrous for the treasury of coins there, which were eagerly "saved" by the helpful populace. Comparison of details of city maps before and after the fire show how construction was altered to clear buildings unaffected by the fire for an entire city block in order to create a safe buffer from other buildings and reduce the chances of fire ever again. SA 40246-De brand van het oude stadhuis op de Dam (7 juli 1652).jpg, The fire in the old city hall,1652-1666, by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten De brand in het Oude Stadhuis van Amsterdam, 1652, RP-P-AO-28-44-2.jpg, Print of the townsfolk gathering water to douse the flames, 1652-1690, by Jan van der Heyden De puinhopen van het Oude Stadhuis te Amsterdam na de brand van 7 juli 1652, SK-A-21.jpg, The ruins of the old city hall,1652-1666, by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten The new town hall was opened on 29 July 1655 by Cornelis de Graeff, the mayor of Amsterdam. De Graeff's son Jacob de Graeff laid the foundation for this along with three other children. The main architect was Jacob van Campen, who took control of the construction project in 1648. It was built on 13,659 wooden piles. Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode 003.jpg, Detail of 1625 map by Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode 004.jpg, Detail of 1648 map by Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode

Palace museum

After the patriot revolution which swept the House of Orange from power a decade earlier, the new

was forced to accept Louis Bonaparte as King Louis I of Holland in 1806. After holding his court at The Hague and Utrecht, Louis Napoleon moved to Amsterdam in 1808. He converted the public rooms of the town hall into a national museum under the direction of Cornelis Apostool and took the rest of the royal palace for himself. The collection of the national museum had been formed by Alexander Gogel in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

after the contents of the Prince William V Gallery had been shipped to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in 1795. This ' National Art Gallery' collection was first shown in Huis ten Bosch from 1800. That museum, already an attraction for its Oranjezaal, exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch

stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

s. In 1805, this National Art Gallery moved to the still-empty Prince William V Gallery, on the Buitenhof. In 1806, on the orders of the new king Louis Bonaparte, the collection moved to the royal palace building in 1808. The motivation was to secure the collection from being abducted once again to the Louvre. Prominent paintings of national importance owned by Amsterdam, such as ''

The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...

'' by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, became part of the collection and in 1809, the museum opened its doors to the public. To improve the view from the palace, Louis Bonaparte ordered the deconstruction of the old weigh house in 1808, which had already been partially replaced in its function by the Waag, Amsterdam before the fire of 1652. By the 19th century, most boat traffic to the Damrak was no longer for goods but for people. Today, the palace complex is used by the monarch for entertaining and official functions during

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

s and other official receptions, such as New Year receptions. The award ceremonies of the

Erasmus Prize The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. I ...

, of the Silver Carnation, of the Royal Awards for Modern Painting, and of the Prince Claus Awards are also held in the palace. It was made property of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1936. The balcony of the Royal Palace was used during the investiture of Queen

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "ble ...

in 1980, where her mother Juliana announced the new queen to the people. The palace was renovated from 2005 until June 2009, during which, among other things,

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

was removed. Since 14 June 2009, the palace is open again to visitors.

Notable features

The sandstone of yellowish hue has darkened considerably in the course of time. Astride the rear of the building is a 6-metre-tall statue of

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

carrying the Globe on his shoulders.

Gallery

File:Royal Palace of Amsterdam 44.jpg, Moses Room File:Royal Palace of Amsterdam 09.jpg, Schepen Room File:Amsterdam Royal Palace 2868.jpg, Vierschaar File:Amsterdam Royal Palace 2834 - 2840.jpg, bedroom King

File:Amsterdam Royal Palace 2739.jpg, Main hallway File:Royal Palace of Amsterdam.jpg, Front side File:Paleis Op de Dam Burgerzaal 2017.jpg, The central hall of the palace

References

External links

*
Virtual tour of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam
provided by Google Arts & Culture * {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Palace Of Amsterdam Dam Square Baroque palaces in the Netherlands Buildings of the Dutch Golden Age Domes Museums in Amsterdam Historic house museums in the Netherlands Houses completed in 1665 Marble buildings Palaces in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam Royal residences in the Netherlands 1665 establishments in the Dutch Republic Louis Bonaparte