Tulips at the Palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam

by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

The Royal Palace Amsterdam is a palace on Dam Square in the centre of Amsterdam. The palace is used by the Royal House as a reception palace and for exhibitions. It was built between 1648 and 1665 as a town hall, after a design by architect Jacob van Campen, and was inaugurated on 29 July 1655. The building is regarded as the Netherlands' most important historical and cultural monument of the Golden Age. The Palace on Dam Square is window number 24 of the Canon of Amsterdam.

The Dam is a square in the centre of Amsterdam. It is the historical heart of the city and the location of many events of national significance. The Dam takes its name from the actual function that the square had in the beginning: it was a dam in the Amstel, which was built between 1204 and 1275. The Dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the Warmoesstraat and the Nieuwendijk on either side of the river.

Tulip is a genus of monocotyledonous plants in the lily family (Liliaceae). In the 17th century a bizarre tulip mania arose around the tulip bulb in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. Suddenly tulip bulbs became speculative commodities. The craze drove up prices to exorbitant levels, even to the point where the bulb was worth its weight in gold. The craze was at its height in late 1636 or early 1637. In February 1637 the 'bulb market' collapsed just as suddenly as it had started. Many bulb speculators were left penniless.