Amsterdam
— — the city the water built around itself.
Not only on a wall.
“Capital of the Netherlands, built on a horseshoe of seventeenth-century canals that fan out from the old harbour. The water is everywhere, under the bridges and beside the bicycles and in the windows of the gabled merchant houses that lean a little toward the street. Hoist beams at the top floors, brown cafés on the corners. Locals do not hurry.
Amsterdam, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, with roughly 905,000 residents in the municipality and about 2.5 million across the metropolitan area. The historic centre sits in the province of North Holland, around the mouth of the Amstel river. The seventeenth-century Canal Ring, dug during the Dutch Golden Age, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. Much of the old city rests on long wooden piles driven through peat into firmer sand below. Schiphol Airport lies fifteen kilometres southwest.
The historic centre holds about 165 canals stretching roughly 100 kilometres, crossed by more than 1,500 bridges. The three great rings, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, and Prinsengracht, were laid out in concentric arcs beginning in 1613. The city sits about two metres below sea level, kept dry by a working system of locks, sluices, and pumps managed by the Waternet authority. Houseboats line many inner banks. The water is now clean enough that an annual Amsterdam City Swim raises funds for ALS research.
Most visitors begin around Dam Square and the Royal Palace, then walk the canal belt south toward the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum on Museumplein. The Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht requires timed tickets, usually booked several weeks ahead. The Rijksmuseum holds Rembrandt's Night Watch among roughly 8,000 objects on view. Trams from Centraal Station reach every quarter, and bicycles outnumber residents. The Jordaan, west of the centre, holds smaller galleries, brown cafés, and Saturday's Noordermarkt. Late spring and early autumn bring the gentlest weather.