Page 141 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - The Netherlands

OUT SIDE THE CENTRE  139

7 Koninklijk
Theater Carré
Amstel 115–125. Map 5 B3.
Tel 0900-2525255. v 4, 7, 9, 10.
q Weesperplein. Box office:
Open noon–6pm daily. See
Entertainment p151. & 8 11am
Sat (phone in advance). ^ 7 -
∑ theatercarre.nl
During the 19th century, the
annual visit of the Carré Circus
was a popular event. In 1868,
Oscar Carré built wooden
premises for the circus on
the banks of the Amstel river.
The city council considered
the structure a fire hazard,
so Carré persuaded them to
accept a permanent building
modelled on his other circus in
Cologne. Built in 1887, the new
structure included both a circus
ring and a stage.
The Classical
façade is richly
decorated with
sculpted heads of
dancers, jesters
KNSM-eiland: a thriving modern city district and clowns.
The Christmas
action sometimes. Next to involved to safeguard the circus is still one
the mill is the IJ brewery, with shipyard’s future as a historical of the annual
its own tasting room (www. site and helped turn it into highlights at the
brouwerijhetij.nl). a museum. theatre, but for
The museum is largely dedi- much of the year Pillar decoration
6 Werfmuseum ’t cated to the history of marine the stage is taken on Theater Carré
over by concerts
engineering, concentrating on
Kromhout work carried out at the shipyard, and blockbuster musicals.
with steam engines, maritime
Hoogte Kadijk 147. Map 6 E2. Tel 020-
6276777. v 9, 10, 14. @ 22, 43. photographs and ephemera. 8 Amstelsluizen
4 Oosterdok or Artis. Open Another point of interest is the
10am–3pm Tue and by appointment. shipyard’s forge featuring a Map 5 B3. v 4, 7, 9, 10, 14.
Closed public hols. & 7 8 variety of interesting tools and q Weesperplein.
∑ machinekamer.nl equipment. Some impressive
historical ships are moored at The Amstelsluizen, a row of sturdy
The Werfmuseum ’t Kromhout the quayside. The museum’s wooden sluice gates spanning
is one of the oldest working eastern hall is sometimes used the Amstel river, form part of a
shipyards in Amsterdam and for receptions and dinners. complex system of sluices and
is also a museum. Ships were pumping stations that ensure
being built here as early as 1757. Amsterdam’s canals do not
In the second half of the 19th stagnate. Four times a week in
century, production changed summer and twice a week in
from sailing ships to steamships. winter, the sluices are closed
As ocean-going ships got bigger, while fresh water from large lakes
the yard, due to its relatively north of the city is allowed to flow
small size, turned to building into Amsterdam’s canals. Sluices
lighter craft for inland water- to the west of the city are left
ways. It is now used only for open, allowing the old water to
restoration and repair work. flow, or be pumped, into the sea.
In 1967, the Prince Bernhard The Amstelsluizen date
Fund bought the site, saving it from 1673, and were operated
from demolition. The Amsterdam The Werfmuseum ‘t Kromhout museum, manually until 1994, when they
Monuments Fund later became located not far from the inner city were mechanized.

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