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The Beurs van Berlage was built between 1898 and 1903 by the architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934) for the City of Amsterdam. Construction started in 1898 and was completed in 1903. It was Berlage’s first really large commission – and it would make him world famous.
The building was constructed alongside the Amstel river, where trading ships used to moor. The building was designed to accommodate all forms of stock trading. At the time, the Beurs van Berlage was referred to as the Koopmansbeurs (Merchant Stock Exchange); in it, commodities, stock, corn, currencies and ship’s cargoes were traded, as were, later, insurance and options. Since 1987, the building has been the venue for exhibitions, concerts, congresses and other events.
Underneath the centre of the original main entrance on Beursplein are the Vaults. Here, individuals could rent a safe deposit box in which to store their securities and other valuables.
Neoclassicism was usual for the 19th century, but Berlage broke with this style. Therefor The Beurs van Berlage is a milestone in the history of modern architecture. It was built in the same period as Amsterdam’s Central Station and the Rijksmuseum (see the Rijksmuseum article), but what is really special about the Beurs, is that 80% of it is authentic.
Berlage made his exchange building into a Gesamtkunstwerk (a work combining various arts, wherein each is subservient to the whole). Berlage and his contemporaries felt that a building should have one clearly delineated shape, governing all details (and thus also the interior). It is ‘Unity in plurality’, as Berlage puts it. The interior is still complete and everything was restored to their former glory and opened to the public.
Details about this spot (Show on map)
Beurs van Berlage | Art & culture, Music
Damrak 277 | Old center | +31205304141
Depends on exhibition & concert times
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