Amsterdam trivia; 20 interesting facts about the city

Did you know…

1. Amsterdam has officially only been the capital of The Netherlands since 1983. Before that everyone saw Amsterdam as the capital, but it wasn’t official. The Dutch government and parliament still remain in The Hague.
2. Amsterdam was granted city rights in 1300, 344 years later than the first city to gain city rights in The Netherlands, which is Deventer.
3. Amsterdam is named after the river Amstel, that was dammed to control flooding.
4. Amsterdam ‘s motto is ‘Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig’, which translates to ‘Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate’.
5. Amsterdam has about 875,000 people within city limits and close to 2.5 million in the metropolitan region.
6. Amsterdam stands on over 1 million poles. Because Amsterdam is built on clay, the poles are neccesary to keep the city from sinking into the mushy ground. The Central Station alone stands on 9000 wooden poles.
7. Amsterdam’s airport is called Schiphol and is the third busiest airport of Europe after Heathrow of London and Charles de Gaulle of Paris.
8. Amsterdam is home to one of the most famous beers in the world, Heineken.
9. Amsterdam has close to 1,000,000 bikes within city limits. As a matter of fact, it has even more bikes than people.
10. Amsterdam has over 60 football clubs of which one is world famous, namely Ajax Amsterdam.
11. Amsterdam is the birthplace of Johan Cruijff, voted European Player of the Century. The stadium of Ajax Amsterdam is named after him (Johan Cruijff Arena).
12. Amsterdam’s often used nickname ‘020’ (nul-twintig), comes from the telephone area code of Amsterdam.
13. Amsterdam has several other nicknames; Mokum, Venice of the North, Damsco.
14. Amsterdam is known for its large collection of famous paintings in several world class museums. The most famous work is The Night Watch, painted by Rembrandt.
15. Amsterdam’s Royal Palace, on the Dam Square, only became a royal palace when The Netherlands became a kingdom. For over 150 years it was Amsterdam’s city hall since The Netherlands was a republic.
16. Amsterdam’s first gay bar, café ‘t Mandje, was opened in 1927 and still exists today.
17. Amsterdam’s red light district uses blue or purple lights instead of red lights for transsexual sex workers.
18. Amsterdam is well known for its canals, of which there are 165 to be found in Amsterdam.
19. Amsterdam has over 7000 monumental buildings.
20. Amsterdam has the highest centration of museums per square meter of all the major cities in the world.