Building Rating 80% of readers like the Madurodam.
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I f you'd like to see all of the great architecture in The Netherlands but don't have time to waste driving all over the country, then this is the place to go. The Madurodam is a park with all of the great buildings, bridges, castles and towers of the country reconstructed at 1:25 scale. It was started in 1952 by the parents of George Maduro who died as a prisoner during the second World War. To honor their son they started Madurodam to raise money in his name for the Society for the Support of the Dutch Student Sanatorium. The list of benefactors has grown, but all are still charities that help young people. The models are amazingly detailed, and many of the accompanying trains, boats, planes, and cars move. Even the re-construction of Rotterdam's giant flood barrier opens and closes with the tide. The trees are special species grown and pruned carefully to make them appeare miniature. It can take a long time, and be very expensive to create some of the models. The ING Bank took four years to recreate. The model of Saint John's Basilica would cost NLG 1,000,000.00 to reconstruct. This miniature city even has its own politicians. Until she became queen in 1980, Princess Beatrix was the city's mayor. That duty is now handled by a group of local students who elect thier own mayor who presides at all ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
About 20% of the building miniatures are paid for by the companies that own them.
In a Radio Netherlands interview, one of the propriators says that environmental activists from Greenpeace actually protested in front of a miniature oil platform the same way they would a real oil platform.
As of 2000:
Number of models: 1148
Number of bridges: 27
Number of moving objects: 63
Number of cars and trucks: 2,389
Number of ships: 58
Number of airplanes: 32
Length of rail lines: 13,100 feet
Number of trains: 12
Number of trams: 2
Annual distance per train: 9,900 miles
Annual distance per car: 8,700 miles
Number of trees: 4,957
Number of people: 13,000
Number of lights: 50,045
Buildings in Madurodam:
George Maduro's birthplace, Curaçao
Saint John's Casilica, 's-Hertogenbosch
Rietveld-Schröder House, Utrecht
Reformed Church, Maasdijk
Cathedral Tower, Utrecht
Cantonal Court, Utrecht
City Hall, Utrecht
Groke Kerk, Middelburg
Dutch Museum of Textiles, Tilburg
Delfland House, Delft
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
The Holy Ghost Almshouses, The Hague
Mauritshuis, The Hague
Het Binnenhof, The Hague
Johan de Witt's House, The Hague
Statue of Bartje, Drenthe
Regional Museum, Sommelsdijk
The Dutch Supreme Court, The Hague
Leiden University, Leiden
Voldersgrachy, Delft
Brink, Deventer
Magna Plaza, Amsterdam
Post Office, Venlo
Town Hall, Gouda
Amsterdam History Museum, Amsterdam
Café, Deventer
Templing Agency, The Hague
Weighing house and cheese market, Alkmaar
Medieval square, 's-Hertogenbosch
Royal Theatre, The Hague
Oudegracht, Utrecht
Canal quarter, Rembrandrplein, and Munttoren, Amsterdam
Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
Westerkerk, Amsterdam
Royal Carré Theatre, Amsterdam
Schreierstoren, Amsterdam
Dutch East India Company ship Amsterdam, Amsterdam
