Amsterdam is celebrating its 750th birthday on Monday with festive events across the city, including an evening concert at the famous Rijksmuseum featuring members of its royal family.
Although the town is much older as a settlement, having been founded in 1170, the official date of founding is October 27, 1275, when Count Floris V, then ruler of Holland and Zeeland, granted residents the right to transport goods toll-free through Dutch waters.
What festivals are happening in Amsterdam?
The day’s festivities, which come at the end of months of events commemorating the city’s 750th anniversary, began at 7:50 a.m. with the cutting of a 75-meter-tall (82 yards long) cream cake by Mayor Femke Halsema on Dam Square, Amsterdam’s central plaza.
Pieces of the cake, decorated in the red and white colors of Amsterdam and bearing the city’s coat of arms, were then delivered to all city districts so that residents could become part of it.
Art exhibitions and concerts are also taking place across the city to celebrate the day.
The celebrations will culminate in a large concert outside the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Crown Princess Amalia will be among guests at the concert, in which leading Dutch artists will perform under a giant tent on Museum Square.
year of celebration
The events on Monday top a series of events taking place throughout the year to commemorate the 750th anniversary.
A highlight was a festival held on Amsterdam’s ring road in the summer.
The highway was closed for 24 hours so that residents could walk around, eat, drink and dance.
The festival also saw the wedding of 75 couples, while a temporary forest of 750 trees was planted.
Amsterdam is famous, among other things, for its canals canalsAnd because of the monumental buildings built around them, the city has a population of around 900,000.
The city, located at the mouth of the Amstel River, became a major world port in the 17th century during the so-called Dutch Golden Age, and was also home to famous artists such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh.
However, its prosperity was tainted by its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. It was a major port of destination for Dutch slave ships from the 17th century until the Netherlands ended its participation in the trade at the request of the British government in 1814.
Edited by: Louis Olofse