Kitabı oku: «The Mentor: Holland, v. 2, Num. 6, Serial No. 58», sayfa 5

A CITY BUILT ON PILES

The costumes, while not so picturesque as those to be found in the country districts, are interesting to the traveler from other lands. The houses are built on piles driven into the soft soil – a fact that the witty old Erasmus of Rotterdam turned to jest by saying that he knew a city whose inhabitants dwelt in the tops of trees like rooks.

There are so many things in Amsterdam of historic, literary, and art interest that no one can expect to “do the city” and do it thoroughly in the brief time usually allotted by the ordinary tourist. For the student of art there is enough to fill a month’s time. The home city of Rembrandt naturally holds the interest of an artist, and the Ryks Museum contains a wonderful collection of Dutch art and Historic relics.

RYKS MUSEUM

This museum is an impressive stone and brick building, constructed in 1877-1885, and filling nearly three acres of ground. It holds a place among the greatest museums of the world, and in its devotion to its own particular subject – Dutch art and history – it is unique. It is not the lover of art alone who will find the place fascinating: the historian will be held by the military, naval, and colonial collection; the antiquarian will linger over the old works in gold and silver, the models of ships of different periods, antique books and furniture, textiles and stained glass; while the artist will regard the picture galleries as a treasure house.

For the artist, if interested in the Dutch masters of art, the museum is the one particular place in Europe. There about him he will find some of the most celebrated works of Rembrandt, Franz Hals, Paul Potter, Jan Steen (stane), Hobbema (hob´-be-mah), and other Dutch painters.

The picturesque old buildings of Amsterdam, especially those in the inner city, will delight the visitor. Many of these have great historic interest – notable among them Admiral de Ruyter’s (ry´-ter; Dutch, roi´-ter) house, bearing his portrait in relief on its front, and a little beyond that the old Montalbans Tower.

The Royal Palace is a solid building which was begun in 1648, just after the Peace of Westphalia, and was finished in the course of seven years at a cost of 8,000,000 florins ($3,216,000). It is not a beautiful building; but in its structure and its inner equipments it is interesting as showing the character of Dutch life and government. You bring from a visit to the palace an impression of the solidity, power, and the enduring virtues that are the ancestral inheritance of the Hollander.

No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a sight of the Zoölogical Garden, which is one of the best in Europe, and a trip out to the unique little Island of Marken. There in that odd spot you will find all the picturesqueness of Holland in solid deposit. Gaily colored costumes are everywhere; houses are queer in structure and in furnishing; and manners and habits of life are peculiar and interesting. But let the visitor be cautious in Marken. It has of recent years come to be a show place, stocked with all sorts of Dutch articles of no special value, most of which are manufactured solely to catch the fancy of the unwary tourist.

HAARLEM

On returning from Marken the traveler will find it worth his while to run west to the quaint old town of Haarlem (hahr´-lem). This is the city of the governor of the province of North Holland, and is one of the cleanest and neatest towns in the Netherlands. Its population is something over 70,000, and it has the appearance of prosperity and welfare. During the Middle Ages, Haarlem was the residence of the counts of Holland, and was the scene of several important military engagements between the Dutch and the Spaniards. It is famous for its horticulture, and furnishes bulbs to every country in Europe and North America. Along about the middle of spring a wonderful sight may be seen in the lands surrounding Haarlem. Whole fields of hyacinths, crocuses, anemones, tulips, lilies, etc., offer a brilliant variety of color and fill the air with delicious perfume. It is a feast for the senses indeed!

ROTTERDAM

Situated about thirty miles south of Amsterdam and Haarlem is Rotterdam, the second largest town in the Netherlands, which has a population of about 370,000. To some it is known chiefly as the home of the illustrious Erasmus, who was born there in 1465. In the great marketplace of Rotterdam there stands a fine bronze statue of Erasmus.

To merchants Rotterdam is known as one of the busiest import cities on the Continent; as in its import trade it is exceeded only by Hamburg and Antwerp, while its cattle market is the most important in Holland. There is much life in Rotterdam, and plenty of entertainment to enliven the visitor who goes there for other purposes than those of trade.

Boyman’s Museum contains a most valuable collection of Dutch art, and the churches, parks, and public ways are attractive and interesting. Down at the large docks you will find busy scenes; at the Wilhelmina Kade especially, where the great passenger steamers lie. You will meet that name Kade wherever you go in the towns of Holland. It means quay, and the different thoroughfares distinguished by the name are either quays or else have been quays in times past, and in the course of the city’s growth have become streets with waterways in them.

You will be impressed with the vast multitude of bridges in Rotterdam. I do not know that they actually exceed in number the bridges of Amsterdam; but they appear to, for many can be seen from almost every point of view. The service of the canal to Holland is manifold, and this is true in winter as well as in summer. Over the frozen surface of the canal children skate to school, women skate to their shopping, and those who have time for recreation skim the icy surfaces from town to town in skating trips.