an Amsterdammertje (Dutch
for 'little one from Amsterdam') is the typical iron or steel traffic bollard
that is used to separate the pavements from the street in Amsterdam, they all have
the city government’s xxx logo on them
they were first used
around 1800 as more and more individual people in Amsterdam started to use
bollards to protect the space in front of their houses. these bollards were
made of metal (originally old cannons), stone, or wood. in the late 19th
century the first cast iron bollards were made.
from 1915 onwards there was a standard bollard of cast iron,
this was replaced in 1972 with steel plate bollards
in 1984, there were approximately 100,000 Amsterdammertjes,
since then the city council has been removing and selling them - around two
thousand are being removed every year,
and this is set to continue until there are none left
i hope someone has started a “save the Amsterdammertjes”
campaign – they are now integral to the city
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