Entertainment sights in Amsterdam
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A
Holland Experience
Situated next to the Rembrandthuis, this multimedia hype-fest tries to cram all of this little land's big attractions into an overpriced mishmash of sights and sounds. The audience dons 3-D glasses and sits on a rotating platform that lurches along with a plotless half-hour film from tulips to windmills to threatened dykes. Oh dear.
The film has no narration or explanation, just a theme from Swan Lake which gets played ad nauseam. At one point a fish wags its tongue at the audience. Then an on-screen dyke crumbles, the room temperature plummets, and a Sony-augmented thunderstorm rages. As film-making it leaves a lot to be desired but we will say this: the six-year-olds in…
reviewed
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B
Westergasfabriek
If you go through the gate and head west along busy Haarlemmerweg, you’ll come to Westergasfabriek, a late-19th-century Dutch Renaissance complex. It was the city gasworks until it was all but abandoned in the 1960s, its soil contaminated. Now the soil has been replaced with lawns, a long pool suitable for wading (bring the kids), sports facilities and even child care. As you move west away from town, reedy wilderness, with marshes and shallow waterfalls, begins to take over.
reviewed
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C
De Rode Hoed
De Rode Hoed is a cultural centre that occupies three glorious 17th-century canal houses. Its line-up includes lectures by world-renowned authors and debates on the topics of the day, sometimes in English. It’s worth a visit, even when nothing’s on, to view the three-storey main auditorium, which was once the largest clandestine church in the Netherlands. The centre was named for the hat shop once located here (spot the tile on the facade that identified the place).
reviewed
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D
Felix Meritis Building
The Felix Meritis building was built in 1787 for the Felix Meritis organisation (Latin for ‘Happiness through Achievement’), a society of wealthy residents who promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment through science, arts and commerce. Composers such as Brahms, Grieg and Saint-Saëns performed in its oval concert hall, and it’s still a theatre today.
reviewed
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E
Stopera
The hulking Stopera complex – which houses both the city hall and the opera – opened in 1986 after nearly two decades of controversy. One critic remarked that the building ‘has all the charm of an Ikea chair’. There are usually free lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays from 12.30pm to 1pm from October to June.
reviewed
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F
Orgelpark
This is not a park as we know it, but a new stage for organ music located in a lovely restored church on the edge of the Vondelpark. The Orgelpark has four big organs, and every year puts on more than 100 events, including concerts of classical, jazz and improvised music. Concerts are typically held Thursday to Sunday; check the website for times.
reviewed
