Amsterdam Marks 750th Anniversary with Concert, Giant Cake
Amsterdam on Monday celebrated its 750th anniversary with a giant birthday cake, citywide festivities and a concert attended by the Dutch royal family.
Mayor Femke Halsema kicked off the celebrations at 7:50 am on Dam Square, the city’s central plaza, by cutting a 75-metre-long cream cake decorated in Amsterdam’s red-and-white colours and bearing its coat of arms.
Slices were then delivered across all districts of the city for residents to enjoy. Music and art exhibitions were also being held throughout Amsterdam to mark the milestone.
Festivities will culminate in a large concert outside the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, where King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Crown Princess Amalia will be among the guests.
Leading Dutch artists will perform under a massive tent erected on the museum square. The Dutch city has been celebrating its 750th anniversary throughout the year.
The major highlight for many of the city’s roughly 800,000 residents was a summer festival held on Amsterdam’s ring road, which was closed to traffic for 24 hours.
Residents were invited to stroll, eat, drink and dance along the motorway, where 75 couples were married and a temporary forest of 750 trees was planted.
Although Amsterdam is much older, its official founding date is October 27, 1275, when Count Floris V granted residents the right to transport goods through Dutch waters without paying tolls.
People had already been living along the Amstel River as early as 1170. # Amsterdam Marks 750th Anniversary with Concert, Giant Cake FG to Support Dangote Refinery’s 1.4mbpd Capacity Target– Lokpobiri
