Dam Square in 1898: mirror of the nation
In 1808 the City Hall became the Royal Palace and at the same time Amsterdam became the capital of the Netherlands. In the same 19th century, the Waag was demolished and the Stock Exchange of Hendrik de Keyser also disappeared. The new Stock Exchange by Zocher drove away the fish market. When the new Stock Exchange also disappeared in 1903, five years after this painting by Breitner, the signs of Amsterdam as a trading city on Dam Square were gone. National monuments such as Naatje op de Dam (on the right of the painting) and since 1956 they reinforce the National Monument reinforce, that in a symbolic sense the Dam has become a national rather than an Amsterdam square.
by George Breitner (schilder)
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