Longer articles about living in the Netherlands, Dutch society, culture and travel plus third party content from our partners
Adriaan van Dis wins Libris literature prize Writer and broadcaster Adriaan van Dis was awarded this year’s prestigious Libris literature prize at a ceremony in the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam on Monday evening. He won the €50,000 prize and bronze medal for his book Ik kom terug (I’ll be back), a memoir in which a 98-year-old mother offers to tell her writer son her life story in exchange for him giving her the pills which will ensure she dies peacefully. The jury, led by Rijksmuseum director Wim... More >
Cycling round Brabant in the footsteps of Van Gogh Like cycling in the Netherlands and Van Gogh? Why not combine the two by following the 335 km-long bike tour that takes you to the places where Van Gogh grew up and that inspired him as a painter. Hilary Staples checks it out. Van Gogh spent a lot of his time in Brabant exploring the countryside on foot. This long-distance cycle route was first developed in 2013 and has been revamped for 2015 to commemorate the 125th anniversary since his... More >
10 things you need to know about the end of World War II in the Netherlands The Netherlands celebrates 70 years since the end of World War II on May 5. But, of course, the war did not end in a day. Here’s an overview of the main events leading up to May 5 and beyond. Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday) On September 4, 1944, Dutch prime minister-in-exile Pieter Gerbrandy broadcast the news that Breda had been liberated. ‘The hour of freedom has struck,’ he proclaimed from London. People lined the streets to welcome their liberators who... More >
12% of current Dutch population witnessed end of World War II Almost 12% of the current Dutch population of nearly 17 million were alive at the time of the end of World War II 70 years ago, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday. Almost two-thirds of them were over the age of five. The highest concentration of survivors live in Laren, Bergen and Rozendaal, where around 20% of the population are over the age of 70, the CBS said. The lowest percentage – 6%- are in the fishing village... More >
Van Gogh photo unlikely to be him, experts say A photo purporting to show Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh with Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard is unlikely to be him, the Parool reports on Thursday. The photograph is to be auctioned by Brussels antiquarian bookstore and auction house The Romantic Agony in June. The catalogue describes the picture as a ‘remarkable portrait of Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh’. However, the only confirmed photographs of Van Gogh show the painter as a child, plus one of him as an... More >
Video: drone footage of three Amsterdam towers The Flying Mikes team used a drone to film three Amsterdam towers during this year’s Open Tower day. The prize-winning video features a restaurant on an oil rig, a crane converted into a hotel room and a church tower in spectacular countryside. More >
How to deal with your aging parents when you live abroad Scarcely a day goes by in the Netherlands without a news story focusing on care of the elderly. New legislation introduced at the beginning of this year has limited access to residential care and put a much greater emphasis on the role of family and friends in helping people remain living in their own homes. Expat and social worker Ana McGinley, whose own parents live 15,000 kilometres from her home in Haarlem, has some advice about how to cope when... More >
Video: drone flight over the Dutch tulip fields Now is the perfect time to go tulip spotting in the Dutch bulb fields. But if you can’t face the crowds at the Keukenhof or if you would rather be an armchair viewer, here’s a short video impression, shot by drone. More >
Dutch university appoints American as its professor of cycling Radboud University in Nijmegen has appointed its first ever cycling professor – and the job is being filled by an American transport expert from the University of Colorado. Visiting professor Keven Krizek will research why the Dutch are so keen on cycling and what the future of cycling is likely to be. He will also work together with Nijmegen civil servants in solving a number of thorny bike-related issues, broadcaster Nos reports. These include how to deal with electric bikes,... More >
More people visit Dutch museums, big institutes benefit most There were some 26.5 million visits made to Dutch museums in 2013, a 3.3 million rise on 2012, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday. The surge is partly due to the reopening of the Rijksmuseum and modern art Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam, both of which had been closed for renovations for a lengthy period. However, while the big museums, with more than 100,000 visitors a year, were profitable, on average smaller museums lost money, the CBS said. The... More >
The Dutch cultural vanguard has been silenced by Wilders: Geert Mak Historian, journalist and author Geert Mak (1946) is this year’s recipient of the Gouden Veer (Golden Quill). The prize is awarded to writers whose work is not only of cultural value but also shows a great measure of social involvement. Mak, whose work includes the best-selling My father’s century and his political travelogue In Europe, has long been a unique voice in the Netherlands, integrating the personal into an historical narrative. In an interview with public broadcaster Nos on Friday,... More >
Toneelgroep Amsterdam director wins prestigious Olivier award Ivo van Hove, artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam, on Sunday evening won the prestigious Olivier award for his production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre. The play, originally staged at London’s Young Vic, also won best revival and best actor for Mark Strong in the central role of Eddie Carbone. The 57-year-old Van Hove, who was born in Belgium, became artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam in 2001 and is internationally acknowedged as a leading... More >
Festival fever 2015: something for every musical and cultural taste There are masses of options to satisfy your festival cravings in the Netherlands, whatever your musical and cultural tastes. Peter Leggett has put together a list of 12 of the best to help the less-seasoned festival-goers out there pinpoint where to start. London Calling – April 24-25 London Calling is held twice a year in Amsterdam’s Paradiso, and focuses largely on the up and coming bands. Since the festival began back in 1992 it has been a showcase for British... More >
10 Dutch delicacies to buy in snack bars The Dutch call it ‘een vette bek halen’ – literally ‘to get yourself a greasy gob’ or pigging out on fried food. The snack bars stock an interesting selection. Here are the most popular. Please note, the Dutch often use the diminutive form for their snacks – a kroketje, a sateetje, a patatje, in an attempt to minimise calorific value. 1 Saté Saté was brought to the Netherlands by people from the Dutch former colony of Indonesia. It is originally... More >
Following in Van Gogh’s footsteps: 10 places where he lived On July 29 it will be 125 years since Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh shot himself in France. A whole host of events are being organised to coincide with the commemorations, from exhibitions to bike tours. Here’s a list of 10 places associated with the Dutch master, who was unappreciated in his lifetime but is now considered one of the greatest painters who ever lived. 1 Zundert (1853) Vincent was born in Zundert, in the province of Noord-Brabant. His father,... More >
Video: Dutch pranksters show Ikea art to art experts The bright sparks at Dutch viral video company LifeHunters placed a painting from Swedish furniture chain Ikea in a museum in Arnhem and told art experts it was by the famous IKE Andrews. The reactions varied from ‘an artist who can put all his emotions in the painting’ til ‘I think it’s worth €2.5m.’ Most of those who had waxed lyrical about the art were good humoured when told about the painting’s real origins. But not all. More >
Video: House of Cards The Hague x 2 The start of the third season of popular US drama series House of Cards has inspired video makers in cities all over the world to make their own versions of the show’s introduction. The Hague has two House of Cards intros, so far. The first was made by the youth wing of the VVD Liberal party, with Mark Rutte as prime minister and co-staring a host of political names and commentators. The second is the real introduction for a new... More >
Hidden Rembrandts go on sale for €150m Two famous portraits by Rembrandt which have been hidden away in a private collection in France are going on sale, US website Art Market Monitor reports. The pair of paintings are of the 21-year-old Maerten Soolmans and his 23-year-old financee Oopjen Coppit, the daughter of an Amsterdam nobleman. Rembrandt painted them just before their wedding and the young couple paid 500 guilders. The portraits were bought in 1877 by baron Gustave de Rothschild and were only shown to the public... More >
Why you should vote for your local water board? A dijkgraaf explains all Voting in for your local water board on March 18 is a key part of Dutch democracy and gives everyone a say in the decision-making process, says Gerhard van den Top, the dijkgraaf or the head of the board of the regional water authority in Amstel, Gooi en Vecht. Since our earliest efforts, some 700 years ago, to defend our people and properties against sea and river water and to reclaim ‘polders’ from lakes and sea area, the Netherlands has separated... More >
A very brief guide to the 12 Dutch provinces The Dutch go to the polls next week to elect the members of the 12 provincial councils. In case your local geography is not up to scratch, here’s a list of all 12. Drenthe, capital Assen Drenthe is a mainly rural province, with some industry around Assen and Emmen. It is also home to 53 of the Netherlands 54 hunebedden, or dolmens – megalithic tombs. Flevoland, capital Lelystad The newest province, created largely on post WWII land reclaimed from the... More >
