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Published: February 10th 2021
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http://www.heygo.com 9th February - Trading on Tolerance - Amsterdam
Amsterdam has famously tolerated prostitution (Red Light District), Catholics (Hidden Churches) and cannabis (Coffeeshops) when all those things were illegal. Mark, our guide today explained and charted the history of these 'tolerances' through to the present day.
The Dutch concept of tolerance dates back to the end of the Eighty Years’ War, after William of Orange, had just been crowned King and as a Protestant monarch decided to let the Catholic minority have the freedom to practice their faith as they saw fit.
This was really a big deal and it would never have happened in countries like France, England, Rome or majority of the Italian City-States at that time.
This not only laid a foundation for tolerance in the Netherlands, it planted the seeds that would grow over time to become the identity of a nation that would approve of gay marriage, legalisation of soft drugs and prostitution.
Prostitution in Amsterdam is nearly as old as the city itself. As early as the 15th century and possibly earlier, the first prostitutes arrived to earn a living in the
harbor of Amsterdam. The women initially plied their trade in the streets. In the sixties, the police made it illegal to solicit from doorways. Sitting behind the window was tolerated if the curtains were almost closed. By burning a red light behind the chink, it was clear to men that they could come here for a prostitute. Today it is allowed to keep the curtains open but the red lights are still used.
The Red Light district is currently closed due to the pandemic so our guide was able walk with his camera. It was surprising to see close to this red light area a church, & a kindergarten.
Known as the oldest building and parish church in Amsterdam we passed by the Oude Kerk beside the Oudezijds Voorburgwal canal.
Museum Our Lord in the Attic is one of the most cherished museums in Amsterdam with a special atmosphere, the attic of this house conceals a secret Catholic church, known as Our Dear Lord in the Attic, originally built in 1663, when Catholics lost their right to workship in their own way.
The lower floors of the building became a
museum in 1888 and today contain refurbished rooms, as well as a collection of church silver, various religious artifacts and paintings.
Apart from a modern-day museum sign, there is nothing along the street to mark its presence – no rose windows, no steeples, not even a crucifix.
Amsterdam's cannabis culture began during the 1960's when at the time the hippy culture was booming all around the world.
Throughout the 1960's many cannabis smokers used to meet at various locations around the city to buy their weed and hash. The problem back then was that many of the dealers were also selling hard drugs. These were the dealers the authorities started targeting and those who only sold cannabis were largely left alone.
In 1972 the first unofficial coffeeshop 'Mellow Yellow' was founded by Wernard Bruining, known at the time as a tea house. There was no big signs or advertisements that this place sold cannabis, from outside it looked like any other tea house.
In 1975 The Bulldog Coffeeshop was opened by Henk De Vries who at the time was only 24 years old. He had inherited one of his
fathers sex shops and after some thinking he decided to transform it into a coffeeshop. He did sell cannabis from his sex shop but it didn't officially become a coffeeshop until December 1975.
In 2007 there were new rules introduced and the coffeeshops could sell alcohol aswell as cannabis. This was no longer the case and they had to choose between selling either cannabis or alcohol.
To add further problems for coffeeshops another new rules was created and any coffeeshop within 250 metres of a school must close down.
Well that’s enough about all those tolerances, what a beautiful day it was walking along the canals with snow on the ground and beautiful reflections from the ornate buildings.
Amsterdam’s oldest houses, with their ornate gabled façades, are a national treasure. Many of these stunning examples of architecture date back to the Dutch Golden Age when a building tax was calculated by the width of a property’s façade.
Trompettersteeg is another unusual example of narrow urban spaces. This skinny street is just one metre wide. We squeezed through it together.
There were several bicycles as you would expect as
we walked our guide explained that they were Grandma Bikes !
There are no little extra’s like gears and hand brakes, when you need to break you push the paddles backwards with your feet & the steering wheel is high for an upright riding position which is very comfortable.
We ended our tour sitting in a bench next to a statue of Major Bosshardt.
From the age of 20 she worked for the Salvation Army as a social worker. When Amsterdam North was bombarded in July 1943 she fled to Hilversum together with Jewish children that she kept hidden from the German Nazi invaders.
At the end of 1951, she established the Salvation Army’s headquarters in a house she rented. Initially, only the ground floor was available & she had to sleep there in the same room where homeless people were received.
From 1948 onwards the Major held Christmas meetings for prostitutes and always gave them a helping hand. She said the following about her relationship with prostitutes: “Should I believe that I can fight prostitution? No way! I try to give these women a helping hand
so often that they can grab it when they want to grab it. We accept these girls and women as they are in their situation. In essence, I could have sat there.”
I most informative & interesting tour of Amsterdam.
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