Category: Netherlands
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Weeping Beech
Weeping Beech More than 50 years ago, in 1972, the Floriade world horticulture exhibition opened in Amsterdam. One of the young trees in what is now called Amstelpark has grown into this beautiful weeping beech.From the very beginning, individuals and couples in love have carved arrows and hearts with their names or initials into the…
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Our living soil
Our living soil A rhizotron is a type of underground laboratory in which the interaction between the soil, the roots and animals below the surface and the plants above can be studied. The invisible is made visible.Placed above ground in the light, the rhizotron becomes a true work of art. Photo of the week: Rhizotron…
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The St. Bavo organ
The St. Bavo organ In 1738, word must have spread like wildfire among organists and composers that Christian Müller had built one of the largest organs in the world for installation in the Grote St. Bavo Church in Haarlem. As early as 1740, Georg Friedrich Händel came to the city to play the Müller organ.…
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The Great St. Bavo
The Great St. Bavo The Great St. Bavo Church has stood in the old centre of Haarlem, just 20 km from Amsterdam, since 1520. Initially Catholic, it was taken over by the Calvinists in 1578 with some violence and accompanying destruction. The well-preserved Gothic building still serves as a Protestant church but is now mainly…
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The Amstel
The Amstel On my way back from Ouderkerk, my favourite walk along the Amstel. Photo of the week: Amstel river, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2025
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The Goose family
The Goose family Becoming an infrequent sight: a goose family taking a walk on the ice of the Amstel canal. Photo of the week: Amsterdam, Netherlands 2018
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Piet Mondria(a)n
Piet Mondria(a)n Mondria(a)n belongs to the canon of modern art. In the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam I saw the two top paintings exposed, in the Kunsthaus in Zürich the two bottom ones. The resemblance in choice of the two museums is striking. Mondria(a)n’s abstract work has become so commonplace and has been violated to such…
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Medieval wood carving
Medieval wood carving On the underside of the hinged seats of the choir stalls in medieval churches often a ‘misericord’ was carved, a small wooden seat on which the clergyman could lean while he was supposed to stand during long parts of the different services. So normally a misericord was hidden from view, either because…
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Ter Apel infirmary
Ter Apel infirmary The village of Ter Apel in The Netherlands has lately come into the news because of the inhuman conditions in the overcrowded Center for Asylum Seekers. Before the establishment of this Center, Ter Apel was known for the well preserved remains of the medieval Monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross.…
καιρός remembered 