The Amsterdam Town Hall in Words and Images

The most famous monument of the Dutch Golden Age is undoubtedly the Amsterdam Town Hall by architect Jacob van Campen inaugurated in 1655. Today we stand in awe confronted with the grand Classicist fa¿e, the delightful horror of the sculptures in the Tribunal, and the magnificence of the huge Citizens¿ Hall. In the period of its construction, many artists and writers tried to capture the overwhelming impact of the building by, among other comparisons, relating it to the ancient Wonders of the World and by stressing its splendour, riches, and impressive scale. In doing so, they constructed the Town Hall as the ultimate wonder, thus offering a silent, but very powerful testimony to the power and position of the City of Amsterdam and its rulers as equals of the other European regimes.To fully understand these mechanisms of power, this book relates the Town Hall to other, impressive buildings of the same period¿the palace of the Louvre, Saint Peter¿s Basilica, and Banqueting House¿and thei