Queen Beatrix Reopens the Royal Palace in Amsterdam

Yesterday queen Beatrix reopened the royal palace on Dam square in Amsterdam. The palace was closed for 3,5 years as the interior was adapted. The palace, that was originally built as a city hall in 1648, got new kitchens and bathrooms, furniture was restaured, 45.000 kilo of asbestos was removed and the chandeliers that were found on the attic were restaured and used in several rooms of the palace. The leader of the project was happy to announce that he stayed within the budget of 81 million euros. However, the main hall of the palace, the impressive Citizen’s Hall, was not restaured due to lack of money. ‘It is like restauring Versailles and leaving out the Hall of Mirrors’, commented renovation architect Krijn van den Ende in newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’. Still, the result of the restauration is impressive, the use of old chandeliers, new curtains, carpets and furniture makes the palace actually looking like a palace. During the last renovation in the 60-ties many of these things were removed as they wanted the palace to resemble the original 17th century style as much as possible. As a result the palace looked like a cold and empty city hall instead of a palace, as which it is functioning since 1808.

Mayor Job Cohen of Amsterdam held a speech during the opening, for an audience of 400 guests, mostly people involved with the project but also to queen Beatrix and her sister princess Margriet. ‘Welcome home, your majesty’, the mayor started his speech. He also told the audience that ‘there will always be critics who think that things should have been done differently. The media quickly calls critics ‘experts’, but they are selling a lot of nonsense’. The mayor also said that more information about the exterior of the palace will be announced soon. It is hoped that the exterior will be cleaned, as the sand coloured stones turned black and grey over the years. The royal palace in Amsterdam is opened to the public for six months a year. The opening hours can be found on their official website, click here.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Palaces, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Renovations, Royal Palace (Amsterdam).