Old Amsterdam 1910.

 

I just found a very interesting photo of the Amsterdam's main square (Dam) in 1910 - these old photos are so far the closest we have to time machine - it is really interesting to notice how in many ways the place is still recognisable but than again, completely different. This is where the city of Amsterdam officially began, as the bridge connected two opposite roads situated on a river - on this photo river Amstel was already covered and the streetcar was running here. In the old times, there were obviously some farms and fishermen around, than trough the century there was enough wealth, political and religious importance to turn this into a glorious city.

The main outline of the old city is still very much present - several canals that follow the shape of the horseshoe are still there, its just that lot of construction, re-construction, elimination and replacement took place. For example, looking at this picture, Dam square is of course still here but it looks completely different today - the monument of "Nation" (bastardised into "Natje" that would make her affectionately called something like "Nelly") is long gone, the majority of the buildings are not on this spot anymore, the road naturally leads towards Central Station but empty corner on the right is where elegant and legendary department store De Bijenkorf came much later. The interesting building with the church tower int he distance is actually a stock exchange building that used to be one of the most important spots in town but is completely eclipsed by department store ever since. 

Maybe even more fascinating is the photo taken a little earlier from a different perspective - the second photo covers the right side of Dam square and it shows the houses that were standing on the spot where Bijenkorf was later built. There is almost nothing left from this picture, except the beginning of the street that today we recognise as Warmoestraat, but the houses are not here anymore. They are all replaced with modern buildings or hotels. The strangest of all is the impressive building right in the middle of the square that no one remembers anymore but it used to be called Commandantshuis. If somebody drop me off in this spot at the time when these photos were made, I would understand where I was but would feel a strange unsettling sensation like everything is in a wrong place.