AMSTERDAM, or AM'STELDAM (ear lier Amstelledamme, the dam or dyke of the Amstel). The chief city of the Netherlands, situ ated at the continence of the Amstel with the V or lj (pronounced Eye), an arm of the Znyder Zee (Map: Netherlands, C 2). Amsterdam has an area of square miles, and has the shape of a semicircle, its diameter being the or Ij. The town is further cut up into six other concentric zones by canals. Other canals (o• graehten) split up the city into ninety islands, crossed by about 300 bridges. Along these, rows of trees are planted, making the finest avenues of the city, of which the Singelgracht, seven miles long, the Prinsengracht, the Keizersgracht, and the Heer engracht, which is 147 feet wide, are the most handsome. The bridge over the Amstel, the Iloogesliis, has thirty-two arches, is 620 feet long, and affords a fine view of the city and harbor. In the southern part of the city some of the canals have been drained and tilled in to form broad streets, as also a portion of the Y, which now is the site of the central railroad station. The great square of Amsterdam is the so-called Damn, getting its name from its position on the west side of the old wall that is popularly be lieved to be the site of the city's first founda tions. Around it are the royal palace, the ex change, and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), and from it as a centre radiate the principal streets and street-car lines of the city. Here is the monu ment to the loyalty of Holland during the Bel gian revolution of 1830-31. It is called Het 2Ietalen Krins, a reminiscence of the commemo rative war medals then issued. Ilene, too, for one week in summer the boys of the city have the privilege of playing, because, it is said, in 1622 some boys here discovered a conspiracy of the Spaniards against the town.
Many of the buildings of the city are the Dutch brick style of the seventeenth century. They are all built on piles. because of the loose, shifting nature of the sandy soil near to its surface. It is necessary to go down from fourteen to sixty feet before a firm foundation can be secured. An interesting part of the city is the Jewish quarter, the Jews having formed an important section of the inhabitants from the middle of the seventeeth century. In this part of the city Spinoza lived.
Among the ecclesiastical structures of the city, the Nieuwe Heck (New Church), or St. Cath arine's Church, a cruciform basilica in the late Gothic style, erected in 1408-78, is the finest. The interior contains interesting remnants of old stained glass, a beautifully carved pulpit, executed by Vinckenbrinek in 1649, and the monuments of Admiral De Ruyter and the fa mous Dutch poet Vondel. The Oude Kerk (Old Church), a Gothic structure dating from about 1300, is noticeable for handsome stained-glass windows of the sixteenth century, and contains several monuments to naval heroes. In the
Jewish quarter, the synagogue of the Portuguese Jews is interesting, as being built in imitation of Solomon's Temple; it also boasts of a consider able number of costly vessels. The handsomest secular edifice is the royal palace, built in 1648 55 as a stactthuis, or town hall, a massive struc ture resting on a foundation of 13,659 piles, and surmounted by a round tower rising 187 feet from the base, and commanding an extensive view. The gilded vane of the tower represents a merchant vessel. The building is adorned with numerous statues, bas-reliefs, and mural paint ings, the interior profusely decorated by eminent Dutch sculptors and painters of the seventeenth century. All the principal apartments are lined with white Italian marble and richly adorned with sculptures, especially the magnificent recep tion room, an apartment of great splendor, and one of the largest halls in Europe, measuring 120 feet in length, 57 feet in width, and 100 feet in height. The building was converted into a royal residence in 1808, being presented by the city to King Louis Napoleon. The Rijks-Museum, a stately edifice, erected in 1877-S5. in the early Dutch Renaissance style, with various Gothic and Romanesque characteristics, is richly adorned with statues of Dutch architects, paint ers, and sculptors, allegorical bas-reliefs, en caustic paintings, and figures in colored tiles. symbolic of the Dutch towns and provinces. The museum contains one of the most important col lections of paintings and engravings in the world. The works of Rembrandt are especially well rep resented, and besides his most celebrated work, the so-called "Night Watch," include "De Steal meesters," "The Jewish Bride," and one of his most finished portraits, that of "Elizabeth Bas." Van der Heist's "Banquet of the Arquebusiers" is another highly prized gem of this collection, which abounds in select paintings by the most famous Dutch and Flemish masters. The mu seum further includes an interesting department, showing the development of ecclesiastical art in the Netherlands from the Carolingian period to the seventeenth century, and a valuable col lection of objects of indnstrial art. In the Fodor Museum may lie seen 161 admirable paintings by modern Belgian. Dutch, and French artists; about 300 drawings by old masters, and about 100 engravings. The Six Gallery is a small but ex tremely valuable collection of paintings by the old Dutch masters, while the modern Dutch ar tists may be studied to great advantage in the Municipal Museum, containing about 200 select specimens.