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Muziektheater/Stadhuis Review

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Muziektheater/Stadhuis

Address: Waterlooplein 22 or Amstel 3, Centrum, Amsterdam | Map It
Phone: 020/625-5455
www.stopera.nl

Music Theater/Town Hall

Category: Arts/Performance Venues, Government Buildings
Location: Old City Center

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Fodor's Review:

Universally known as the Stopera—not just from the combining of "Stadhuis" (Town Hall) and "Opera" but from the radical opposition expressed during its construction—this brick-and-marble complex when viewed from the south resembles, as a local writer once described it, a "set of dentures." Another writer grumbled that its "two for one" nature was a tad too typical of the bargain-loving Dutch. Discontent with this modern complex actually began before the first stone was in place, when locals protested the razing of the 16th- and 17th-century houses in the old Jewish Quarter and around Nieuwmarkt to make way for it. Regardless, the 300 million-guilder building was completed, and today has an impressive interior architecture with stunning acoustics. The Muziektheater is now home base for the Nederlands Opera and the National Ballet and the ballet orchestra. Tours of the backstage areas are run once a week (Saturday at noon) or by prior arrangement. From September to May, the Boekmanzaal is host to a free Tuesday lunch concert.

City Hall is in odd contrast to the grand Music Theater side, with its functional municipal offices and now gay couple-friendly wedding chamber (Dutch marriages all must be performed in the Town Hall, with church weddings optional). Feel free to wander through the interconnecting lobbies, where there is interesting sculpture on display that frighteningly illustrates Amsterdam's position with the sea.

Cost: Tours EUR 5.00
Open: Mon.-Sat. 10-6; tours Sat. at noon or by arrangement; call 020/551-8103

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