Facts of City of Amsterdam

Facts of City of Amsterdam






Amsterdam has been derived from ‘Amstel Dam’, a dam built on river Amstel.

The city of Amsterdam is popularly known as the ‘Venice of the North’.

You can find 165 canals and a total 1,281 bridges, in the city of Amsterdam. The city also boasts an impressive 2,500 house boats and few are used as permanent accommodation.

Amsterdam was merely a small fishing village founded in the 12th century. However, it gained importance by becoming one of the important ports during the Dutch Golden Age.

The city of Amsterdam is entirely built on piles, by means of huge stakes driven into the ground.

The world famous ‘Kohinoor’ diamond of India was actually cut in Amsterdam.

More than 1 million visitors are being welcomed at Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, yearly.

The city of Amsterdam is the sixth largest metropolis of Europe.

Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the world.

Oude Kerk is the oldest building in Amsterdam and situated in the heart of the Wallen area, it was consecrated in 1306.






The oldest area in Amsterdam is known as de Wallen and it is home to the city’s famous red light district.

Prostitution is a legal profession in Amsterdam, and hence, prostitutes are also taxed in Netherlands.

There are close to 500 windows in Amsterdam. On any given day, one will find that there are more than 1,000 prostitutes working in the city.

Amsterdam was the first capital that allowed gay marriages to take place.

Amsterdam is home to more than 300 coffee shops, which are legally allowed to sell up to 5 gm of soft drugs per person.

The city owns 70 glass topped canal boats.

Amsterdam houses the maximum number of museums in the world, per square meter with over 70 major well know museums in Netherlands of which over 40 are in Amsterdam.

If the sea level rises even slightly, Amsterdam would be one of the first cities in the world to drown, as its altitude is below sea level.

The Van Gogh Museum and the Kroller-Muller Museum of Amsterdam contain the largest Van Gogh collections in the world.

Out of the top 500 companies in the world, as many as seven, including Philips and ING, are based in Amsterdam.



Amsterdam has over 1 million bikes but only 700000 people.

When you land at Schiphol Airport, you are actually four meters below sea level.

The Netherlands has more than 4,000 km of navigable rivers, lakes and canals.

Amsterdam has a house boat known as the 'Poezenboot' which acts as a house for stray cats. A woman who had been re-housing stray cats had the idea of getting them a houseboat.

You Can Get Married at the Schiphol Airport. Its actually true.

Amsterdam does not house a Parliament building, instead Hague does.

Schiphol is the first airport to have a museum in its terminal since Dec 9, 2002.

The city of Amsterdam homes a Cycle Beer Bar, where you can drink while you ride.

Interestingly, more than 50,000 bikes are stolen in the city of Amsterdam, every year.

Amsterdam is home to the highest number of nationalities than any other city in the world, 175 out of 194.

- By Sunil R Yadav

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