In the summer of 1950, the Dam was filled with old Dutch buildings, specially constructed for the celebration of Five Centuries of Kalverstraat. Visitors traveled back in time and saw in Dam City a city wall that included the medieval town hall, the Waag, and the St. Anthonys Gate. Not built of brick, but of Heraklith (wood wool panels). Outdoor plays were also performed.
The Reason
The plan for Dam City came from florist G. IJsselstein, who, along with other initiators, united in early 1949 in the Committee Kalverstraat. The proceeds from the festivities would benefit the Queen Wilhelmina Fund and the Dutch Cancer Institute, established in 1949. The founding year of Kalverstraat as a shopping street, 1450, was of course not based on any historical source, but motivated by the first anniversary of the celebration of liberation and national festivities. To shape this, local architect and painter Nicolaas Charles Dekker (1898-1969) was hired.
Dam City in full glory. A full terrain, but ultimately an empty treasure chest. (SAA, SAA OSIM00007004743)
Dam City, a nineteenth-century festival ground from 1950
The occupation was five years past, and the reconstruction, with a period of economic prosperity and optimism in sight, was slowly but surely gaining momentum. For Dam City, however, the future was not looked at, but rather through a nostalgic lens at the well-known glorious times of the city: the late Middle Ages and the Golden Age. That both periods of prosperity also had dark sides is now well known. The ultimately executed plan consisted of a crenellated city wall with shop windows and wall towers on the street side. Three important historical buildings were incorporated into the wall: the medieval town hall; the Waag, built in 1561-1565 at Damplein, and the medieval St. Anthonys Gate, which had taken on the function of Waag at the Nieuwmarkt in 1617-1618. Although the design of this Waag also resembled the Amsterdam gate of Haarlem. Throughout the existence of Dam City, large and small outdoor plays were performed, for which writer Hella Haase (1918-2011) provided the texts, and Kees van Iersel (1912-1988) took on the direction.
The first stone laying of Dam City on May 13, 1950. (SAA, SAA OSIM00007004742)
Exhibitions in the Nineteenth Century
Presumably, the committee and Charles Dekker sought inspiration in the exhibitions held in 1887 and 1895 on the then still undeveloped site behind the Rijksmuseum. In 1887, Old Holland was established there, an old Dutch town with buildings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was entirely in line with renewed interest and appreciation for these periods in architecture and visual arts. Painter Cornelis Springer, one of the most famous painters of the Dutch Romanticism, was commissioned in 1887 to design Old Holland. Due to its success, the idea of Old Holland was revisited in 1895. Now the designs came from architect Isaac Gosschalk, who eagerly drew from the architecture of the period 1560-1630.
Dam City and the Nineteenth-Century Predecessors
In Dam City, similarities can be seen with the predecessors from the late nineteenth century, but also in the timing. Just as at the end of the nineteenth century, the city found itself at an important turning point, with an unknown but prosperous future in sight. The trauma of the occupation, with the deportation and eventual murder of approximately 75,000 Jewish inhabitants as an absolute low point, was repressed. Nationally, there was also an increasing optimism looking back gently at the periods of prosperity of pre-war centuries. Not for nothing was artist Anton Pieck embraced by many Dutch people during that period. His sweet drawings echoed an innocent time that had been forever lost due to the horrors of World War II. An idealized time that never actually existed as such. In the chaotic Dam City, with its entertaining inhabitants, one could step into an Anton Pieck-like illusionary world.
The residents of Dam City. (SAA, HVVA00235000035)
In Conclusion
Despite the noble goal and the high number of visitors, the Committee Kalverstraat was declared bankrupt in 1951 after much bickering, leaving a financial gap of fl. 300,000. Dam City went down in history as a failed project and was mentioned when similar initiatives had succeeded: Village festival did not become Dam City. The buildings were also not spoken of favorably. From the review of the film Knickerbocker Holiday (1951): In a shabby setting, which evokes memories of Dam City [...]. Or in the discussion of the world exhibition held in 1958 in Brussels: a gigantic Dam City, but then beautiful [...]. Besides that, Dam City is an interesting phenomenon because it looked back at three centuries: the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the nineteenth centuries; with the last possibly unconsciously.
Heritage of the Week
In the column Heritage of the Week, a special archaeological find, site, object, monumental building, or historical place in the city is highlighted each week. Through the website amsterdam.nl/erfgoed, Open Research Amsterdam, Instagram @monumentenarcheologie, X @erfgoed020 and Facebook Monumenten en Archeologie the heritage experts of Monuments and Archeology share the heritage of the city with Amsterdammers and other interested parties. This article was written by Michel van Dam.