Once Hidden Now In “Plain View”…

A Hidden Church or as we in the Netherlands call them, een schuilkerk (Dutch – house church; plural – schuilkerken) is a kind of church that is not recognisable as a church from the outside of the building. They were built in large numbers during the time of the Dutch Republic for use by Roman Catholics, [...]

Place of Silence in a Noisy City #3

The Miracle of Amsterdam
A few days before Palm Sunday on March 15, 1345 a man in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam received the Sacred Host when a priest administered the Sacrament of the Sick to him. In his sickness he vomited, expelling the Host which was caught in a basin and thrown on to the fire, [...]

Place of Silence in a Noisy City #2

Begijnhof
Until 1578 Amsterdam was almost completely Roman Catholic, with two large parish churches, six chapels and many monasteries and convents. Every year the worship of the Sacrament of the Miracle [see tomorrow] drew thousands of pilgrims to the city. A fair grew up alongside, ensuring a flourishing economy.
In Amsterdam the Protestant reformers were particularly opposed [...]

Place of Silence in a Noisy City #1

Begijnhof
In about 1150, a group of women came together to live in a religious community, primarily to look after the sick. These were, in effect, the first ‘Beguines’ although the name was not yet used. The women were not nuns and nor did they live in the seclusion of a convent. They had no founders [...]

Day of Hearts…

Hartjesdagen [day of hearts] on the Zeedijk in the old centre of Amsterdam is celebrated during the 3th weekend of August, it is an ancient tradition reaching as far back as the Middle Ages. Hartjesdag was a holiday held on the third Monday in August in Haarlem and Bloemendaal, and in parts of Amsterdam, particularly [...]

Gay Pride Parade

It started with 5 Gay weddings on the boat of the City, performed by Mayor Job Cohen, the first couple see movie are friends of a friend. AT5 is a local broadcaster but this news item could be seen all over Europe. These ‘mixed’ marriages are made up of Dutch and American same-sex couples. I know that [...]

Cookies, Coleslaw and Stoops…

From Santa Claus (after the Dutch folklore saint Sinterklaas) and his sleigh (the pronunciation of the Dutch slee is almost identical) to a dumbhead talking poppycock, the contributions of the Dutch language to American English are indelibly embedded to some of our most vernacular terms and expressions. In Cookies, Coleslaw and Stoops, the renowned linguist [...]

Rembrandt Life Size in Amsterdam

For the first time in history Rembrandt’s complete oeuvre will be on show. By making use of the latest digital techniques all 317 paintings, 269 etches and the most relevant of Rembrandt’s drawings can be marveled at. Even mutilated and lost works have been reconstructed for this exhibition. This unique overview has been compiled by [...]

It’s almost OPEN…

Hermitage to open June 20, 2009
Inaugural exhibition At the Russian Court presents more than 1,800 treasures from St Petersburg
From June 20th 2009, 10 a.m., a major new European cultural destination, the greatly expanded Hermitage Amsterdam, will welcome visitors to its elegantly restored 17th-century building in the historic heart of Amsterdam. Founded to bring the [...]

Unity…

Two Remembrance Days in one week is not something that happens often, certainly not in the Netherlands, it was a first and we all hope it was the last too.
In a way we came out of it stronger as a nation, united we stood after all that happened just 8 days ago. What started as [...]

May 5th, Liberation Festival

Yesterday it was Remembrance Day and today we celebrate Liberation Day.
On 5 May the Dutch celebrate the end of the Second World War at the Museumplein (Museum Quarter) and reflect on the imprisonment of millions of other people around the world today.
Artists and actors, performers and cooks, volunteers and many others: they offer a wonderful [...]

Going Dutch

In the New York Times Magazine of May 3, 2009. Going Dutch an article by Russell Shorto author of  among others The Island at the Center of the World. He’s a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and the director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam.
Thanks to Josh for the link.

Attack on Dutch Royal Family

HRH Princess Maxima and
HRH Crown Prince William Alexander
just after the attack

What started as a normal sunny Queens day ended unexpectedly just before noon local time in Apeldoorn, the city the Royals visited.
A 38 year old caucasian Dutch man drove his car at full speed through the barriers into the public who where watching the tour. He missed [...]

Shared History, Shared Values

April 2009 marks 400 years since Captain Henry Hudson departed Amsterdam on a Dutch East India Company ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon). That September, Hudson sailed up the New York River that now bears his name. Hudson’s voyage attracted Dutch traders to the area, leading to the establishment of diverse, relatively tolerant settlements: New [...]

Departmental Hoax

The Minister of the Dutch Department of Social Affairs & Employment, Piet-Hein Donner is laughing his socks off.
During the Council of Ministers last Friday he told his fellow ministers that the labour inspection was going to do a survey on working hours of ministers and state-secretaries [aka as #1 + #2 of each department]. All the [...]

Holland on the Hudson

Tolerance, a Real Dutch Treat
The popular idea of the 17th century Dutch settlement New Amsterdam is that its inhabitants muddled around for a while, then made room for the English so the real history of the 13 colonies could begin. “That is not true,” says Russell Shorto, writer of The Island at the Center of [...]

I’ll Take Manhattan…

The area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape tribe. In 1524, Lenape in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European explorer to pass New York Harbor, although he did not enter the harbor past the Narrows.
It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the [...]

To The Sea Side…

Panorama Mesdag is a cylindrical painting, more than 14 meters high and 120 meters in circumference. The vista of the sea, the dunes and Scheveningen village was painted by one of the most famous painters of the Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag. It is the oldest 19th century panorama in the world in its original [...]

Oliebollen or Dutch Doughnuts…

A Dutch treat on New Years Eve and New Years Day.
It is a dutch pastry similar to a doughnut. It typically is a deep fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with powdered sugar. Some modern variations serve them topped with a berry filling, but this is a traditional recipe.
There is a PDF with [...]

Small country, biggest tree…

We are one of the smallest countries in the world but in some things we make a great impact.
Since last night the World’s Largest Christmas Tree is alight again. This tree is in fact a communication tower, 375 meters [1190 feet] tall. From this tower the signals for television and radio are transmitted in order to [...]