Discover Amsterdam's History Self-Guided GPS and Audio Tour

This monument was placed after the Second World War in memory of the war and its victims.

We pass the Royal Palace on Dam Square. This is the official working palace of the Dutch king and is open for visits.

In the 15th century the church experienced two fires, but emerged reasonably well. The fire in 1645 ultimately proved fatal to the church. Due to the work of plumbers, the church burned down completely, except for the choir and steel chapels. Since then, the church has been rebuilt in a Gothic style and can be admired as it is today!

We pass the 5-star hotel, hotel Krasnapolsky, on Dam Square. This used to be a failing Polish coffee house until Adolf Kransapolsky bought it in 1865 and established a beautiful restaurant there. In 1880, Mr. Krasnapolsky also purchased the adjacent properties to convert the building into a hotel.

The Magna Plaza, which was a former post office from the late 19th century, was built by {Cornelis Hendrik Peters} in a neo-Gothic style. In 1992, this beautiful building was added to the top ten most precious monuments in Amsterdam. It looks beautiful from the outside, but I definitely recommend that you take a look inside, because in addition to nice shops, the interior is also really beautiful!

We pass the statue of Multatuli. Multatuli is the pseudonym of writer Eduard Douwes Dekker. He published 'Max Havelaar'. A highlight in Dutch literature that is still read in secondary schools.

House Bartolotti, also called the Bontehuis, can be found at numbers 170 to 172. This house was built in 1620 by Guillermo Bartolotti. His actual name was Willem van den Heuvel, but with the money from his rich Italian uncle Giovanni Bartolotti he was allowed to build this house with the condition that the house had to bear the uncle's surname and that Willem had to change his name.

During the Second World War, Jews and Gypsies were persecuted, but also homosexuals. They were captured, excluded, and many of them died in concentration camps. In the German concentration camps and on the streets people wore marks. Most people know the yellow star that indicated that someone had Jewish origins, but homosexuals also had such a mark, namely a pink triangle. This pink triangle is now a badge of honor for the gay movement and today still a sign for acceptance and equal rights worldwide.

We walk past the statue of Anne Frank}. You may know the story, she was 13 years old when she went into hiding in the secret annex with her family. She lived there from July 6, 1942 to August 4, 1944, when she was arrested by the Security Service. Anne and her family were of Jewish descent and were therefore arrested, but her diary remained behind in the secret annex.

This church, like the Nieuwe Kerk, was built in the 17th century, because Amsterdam was expanding rapidly. It is the highest church tower in Amsterdam, measuring 85 meters. Emperor Maximilian I gave the city of Amsterdam the right to use the crown in its coat of arms in gratitude for the support the city showed him during the Hoekse and Kabeljauwse Twisten. This was a battle between the elite of the county of Holland.