The glasshouses
Three climates under glass — tropical, desert, temperate.
Shadowgate from Novara, ITALY — CC BY 2.0 · Ymblanter — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ymblanter — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ymblanter — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Hortus Botanicus is among the world's oldest botanical gardens (1638) — Amsterdam founded it as a medicinal herb garden, then, thanks to the East India Company's fleet, it became a repository of rare plants the ships brought from Asia, Africa and the Americas: from here coffee and the oil palm spread to whole colonies, from a single seedling kept in this garden. Today four thousand species fill a small enchanting precinct: historic glasshouses with three climates (tropical, desert, temperate), a butterfly house, a three-century-old carob tree, and the world's oldest potted plant. A quiet green refuge in the Plantage quarter, away from the centre's bustle. A pleasant hour for lovers of plants, quiet and scientific history — completing a Plantage walk with ARTIS and the Resistance Museum.
Three climates under glass — tropical, desert, temperate.
From this garden coffee spread to whole colonies.
Free tropical butterflies among the rare plants.
Plantage Middenlaan 2a, 1018 Amsterdam
The Auschwitz Monument, WertheimparkA memorial to the victims of Auschwitz in Wertheimpark, designed by the writer a1 minute walk4.3
The Hollandsche Schouwburg MemorialThe Hollandsche Schouwburg was an ordinary theatre in the Jewish quarter until t2 minutes walk4.6
The Portuguese SynagogueThe Portuguese Synagogue — known locally as the Esnoga — was built in 1675 for A3 minutes walk4.4
MicropiaMicropia is the only museum in the world devoted to microorganisms: bacteria, fu4 minutes walk4.6
Dutch Resistance MuseumA museum about how the Dutch lived through the German occupation between 1940 an4 minutes walk4.5Amsterdam monopolised the coffee plant through this garden: from its seedlings the Dutch sent coffee to their colonies, and much of the world's commercial coffee growing began here. So too the oil palm. This small garden changed the economy of continents — half its charm is in that hidden history.