Saturday June 6 2009 / Culture & Science
Day of Amsterdam History: Felix Meritis
The Amsterdams Historisch Museum organizes in cooperation with the Amsterdam City Archive, Dutch newspaper het Parool and Dutch magazines Historisch Nieuwsblad and Ons Amsterdam the first ‘Day of Amsterdam History' on 6 June. Experts and eye witnesses will tell stories about the history of certain buildings at more than 50 locations in Amsterdam.
The hall of physics of Felix Meritis
Felix Meritis exists since 1777. In this Temple of the Enlightenment concerts, meetings and other gatherings were organized. At the beginning of the twentieth century Holdert & Co. printers bought the building. After the second World War the Dutch Communist moved into Felix Meritis, where the Communist daily De Waarheid rolled off the presses. Loes Gompes and Merel Ligtelijn wrote the book Mirror of Amsterdam - History of Felix Meritis (Spiegel van Amsterdam - Geschiedenis van Felix Meritis) in 2007; Loes Gompes will tell about the hall of physics and the observatory of the 18th century society Felix Meritis. The driving force behind the observatory was the Dutch Professor Jan Hendrik van Swinden (1746-1823), who was actively involved in the formation of the Batavian Republic. Today this hall is called the Shaffyzaal, mentioned after Dutch singer Ramses Shaffy who performed here many times with other international artists during the turbulent 1960's.
Tickets
You will be able to choose the locations of your preference in advance. The programme starts at 11 AM and ends at 4 PM and is divided in various time schedules, locations and narrators. Part of the programme is the closure meeting with performances, music and typical Amsterdam food and drinks in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum. You can book tickets by sending an email to: dag@ahm.nl.
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