Royal Palace Amsterdam

The building on Dam Square was put up between 1648 and 1665 as the town hall of Amsterdam at the moment when the city was the wealthiest in Europe, and it was meant to say so: Jacob van Campen designed a classical block on a scale no Dutch civic building had approached, standing on 13,659 timber piles driven into the peat, a number every Dutch schoolchild is taught. The Citizens' Hall inside is the point - a vast marble room lit from above, with the eastern and western hemispheres and the northern sky inlaid in the floor, so a citizen stood at the centre of the world. Sculpture by Artus Quellinus runs through it on themes of justice and commerce. In 1808 Louis Bonaparte, installed as King of Holland by his brother, took it as his palace; it remains state property, used by the monarch for ceremonies and open otherwise.

What you actually see

• 13,659 piles - the timber foundation driven into peat, and the number everyone knows.
• The Citizens' Hall - marble, top-lit, with the world map inlaid in the floor.
• Quellinus sculpture - justice and commerce carved through the interior.
• A town hall made a palace - taken by Louis Bonaparte in 1808.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It closes for state occasions at short notice - check before travelling. Dam Square outside is crowded and worked by street performers and pickpockets. The audio guide is essentially required to read the iconography.

Nearby

The Nieuwe Kerk adjoins; the Oude Kerk and De Wallen are east.