back next Amsterdam and Netherlands Photos PURCHASE FOR GREAT MEMORIES OF YOUR TRIP TO AMSTERDAM- FOR HOME OR OFFICE. This gallery features images of Amsterdam. Portuguese Synagogue In 1492 Spain expelled its Jewish population. Many who fled to Portugal were nevertheless forcibly baptized after 1496. More than 100 years later, their descendants - victims of the Inquisition who wished to live as Jews - began to arrive in Amsterdam. At that time the Dutch Republic was at war with Spain, so to avoid being identified with the Spanish enemy these refugees from the Iberian peninsula called themselves 'Portuguese' Jews. During the seventeenth century large numbers of Ashkenazi Jews arrived from Central and Eastern Europe. They soon formed the largest Jewish community in Amsterdam and Holland. Opened in 1672. Interior has Ark and bimah at opposite ends. Floor is covered with fine sand. Ark is made with Brazilian jacaranda wood and gilt leather lined interior. Jewish Historical Museum The Jewish Historical Museum houses in a complex of four former Ashkenazi synagogues. Each of them has its own history. There are permanent and visiting exhibits on a range of topics. New Synagogue – 1752 Great Synagogue-1671 Obbene Shul- 1685 Dritt Shul- 1700 Auschwitz Memorial In 1993 a memorial was placed in Amsterdam's Wertheim Park, a stark reminder of Auschwitz concentration camp. Made by Dutch artist and writer Jan Wolkers, it consists of broken mirrors, in which the skies are reflected, day and night. In Wolkers' words, after the horror of Auschwitz 'The sky is wounded forever. Auschwitz was an unspeakably appalling attack upon everything that humanity stands for.' The bitter facts can be read on a panel beside the memorial. Before the German invasion of 1940 there were 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands. Between 15 July 1942 and September 1944 around 107,000 Jews were deported. Of them only 5,200 survived the concentration camps, to return to the Netherlands after the war. 95,000 Jews from the Netherlands were deported to the extermination camps at Auschwitz and Sobibor. Only 500 of them survived.Each year on 27 January - the date on which the Russian army liberated the camp, an Auschwitz remembrance is held. The image with a school class at the Memorial shows that the Dutch want their children to learn and remember the Nazi occupation and holocaust. Ouede Kerk This old church with little houses clinging to its sides, remains a calm heaven at the heart of the freneric Red Light District. Its buildings, especially the Gothic-renaissance style octagonal bell tower, was used by sailors to get their bearings. The Zuiderkerk The Zuiderkerk ("southern church") is a 17th-century Protestant church in the Nieuwmarkt area. Three of Rembrandt's children were buried in the Zuiderkerk, which is very near to Rembrandt's house in the Jodenbreestraat. It was constructed between 1603 and 1611 and stands on the Zuiderkerkhof ("Southern Graveyard") square near the Sint Antoniesbreestraat. The distinctive church tower, which dominates the surrounding area, was not completed until 1614 and contains a carillon of bells built by the brothers Hemony, installed in 1656 along with four bells which are rang monthly. French Impressionist painter Claude Monet painted the church during a visit to the Netherlands. There is some confusion about the date of this painting, but it was probably one of 12 paintings made by Monet in 1874 during a visit to Amsterdam. The composition is centred on the church spire, with the Groenburgwal canal leading up to it in the foreground. The reflections of the buildings on the water are represented by yellow brushstrokes only, with no detail to them. The painting now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Amsterdam canals The four main city center canals are Prinsengracht, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Singel. There are also numerous smaller canals in the neighbourhood of Jordaan, of which the Brouwersgracht, the Bloemgracht and the Leliegracht are especially pleasant. The Waag The Waag (Amsterdam Weigh House). In the fifteenth century the Waag was a city gate. It was absorbed into the city and converted into a weighing-house when Amsterdam expanded. A number of guilds met on the top floor, the artists’ guild among them. On two occasions Rembrandt painted group portraits for the guild of surgeons in the form of ‘anatomy lessons’. Red Light District Beer and party atmosphere, sex for sale, and limitless people-watching. The stores are full of hardcore videos, magazines and sex toys. The Red Light District is somewhat of a sexual amusement park and often not taken too seriously by the hordes of tourist who frequent it as other Amsterdam attractions. The famous red window lights are striking against the quaint, old canal houses and even the fairy lights that line the bridges at night are coloured red. Although it is generally considered to be a very safe area, care should still be taken when walking through the quieter streets of the area. There is a strict “no photography” policy. The Munttoren The Munttoren ("Coin Tower") or Munt is a tower or guard house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It stands on the busy Muntplein square, where the Amstel river and the Singel canal meet, near the flower market and the eastern end of the Kalverstraat shopping street. The present guard house is not the original medieval structure but a 19th Century fantasy. The original guard house, which had survived the fire of 1618 relatively unscathed, was replaced with a new building during 1885-1887 in Neo-Renaissance style. The current carillon (above the clock) consists of 38 bells (2 more than the original carillon had). Only 13 original Hemony bells remained. A mechanism causes the bells to chime every quarter of an hour. Doelen Hotel Located at Kloveniersburgwal canal and Amstel river meet. The hotel from 1882 / '83 was designated in 2001 as a national monument. The Doelenbrug Bridge The Doelenbrug, which was built in 1896, connects the Kloveniersburgwal and the Nieuwe Doelenstraat together with the Staalstraat. This bridge is a national monument and is particularly interesting because it’s a drawbridge that connects 3 different passages. This bridge is not actually called ‘the Doelenbrug’. Actually: the bridge does not have a name. The bridge is often called ‘Aluminium brug’, because this bridge was the first one to have an aluminium deck to walk on, since it’s renovation in 1956. Building fascades and other art of note; Swaan DRIFT In 1726 Adolph de Swaen bought half of the property Halvemaansteeg 12 . The following year his son Henry acquired the other half. Shortly after purchasing Henry had renovate the house / remodeling and installing a talking plaque with the bottom edge of the text Swaan DRIFT and the year of construction. The relief of the frame is performed in the then-Louis XIV forms Check-bent scrolls, acanthus leaves and, in the crown, a kind of scales motif. These motifs are derived from the examples of the French architect Daniel Marot. In a 19th century renovation was the lower half of the gable extracted by an increase in the puibalk to the eye. In ancient descriptions (Suasso 1875 Monuments 1928 Alings 1949) will be also discussed "brick with swan. St.Michael attacking the dragon while standing on an elephant's head- on Herengracht canal. On the left side at nr 581, the consulate of Italy is located in a double merchant;s house rom 1670. The gable is decorated with a large sculpture, depicting St. Michael attacking the dragon while standing on an elephant's head. Herengracht is considered to be the most important canal in the city. In the 17th century, the richest merchants and the most influential regents and mayors of the city lived on this canal. Facade Coffee House Basjoe Kloveniersburgwal near Radisson Blu on Rusland. Caressing a Breast in Red Light District Embedded into the sidewalk, between the sidewalk stones of the Ouderkerksplein and the square that surrounds the Old Church in the Red Light District is a bronze/iron sculpture of a hand caressing a breast. The artist is unknown. Located Just south of the Old Church (by only a few meters). Other sights featured include the new museums vs some of the old towers and churches: EYE Film Museum opened in 2012 and NEMO Science Museum opened in 1997 This is Holland Attraction and A'dam Toren-1971 versus The Montelbaanstoren at the Oudeschans- This historic tower on Amsterdam’s Oude Schans canal was built around 1517 to defend the eastern side of the harbour from potential attack. The sturdy defence tower later received an aesthetic upgrade in 1606, when the decorative top, wooden spire, octagonal base and clock was added. Amsterdams Historisch Museum with a facade dating to 1581. The museum has an outstanding collection of Amsterdam historical artifacts. A useful travel resource: Dutch Resistance Museum