Paleis Van Justitie

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  • Address
    Prinsengracht 436, Southern Canal Belt
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  • Phone
    541 21 11

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This authoritative (Amsterdam's Court of Appeal) pile began life in 1666 as an orphanage, designed for 800 occupants, but by the early 19th century more than half the city's 4300 orphans were crammed in here. A royal decree finally relocated them to other towns, amid cries that children were being stolen. The building's current scowl, in sober neoclassical, is from an 1829 renovation after the orphanage was closed.

You can wander inside, but as a rule you won't get beyond reception unless you have, er, official business. The court is due to move into a fancy new office in Westerdokeiland in 2010.