I amsterdam - Parks

Vondelpark
In the 'Flower Power' era, the park served as a 'sleep-in' venue for travelling hippies. The designer of the park, Jan David Zocher, also designed the Zorgvlied cemetery on the banks of the river Amstel in the Municipality of Amstelveen, in 1870. In this cemetery ('A monument full of monuments') are the graves of many famous citizens of Amsterdam, particularly from the world of literature and theatre.

Amsterdamse Bos
Under the motto 'Five years' work for a thousand men' the planting of the woods of the Amsterdamse Bos began in 1934, a task which provided work for 20,000 unemployed people during the crisis years. The last tree in this forestation project was only planted in 1967. With its 137 km of footpaths, 51 km of cycle paths and 50 bridges, the Bos is one of the largest city parks in Europe (935 ha), contains 150 indigenous tree species, an exotic arboretum and more than 200 bird species. To commemorate four centuries of Dutch-Japanese relations, 400 Japanese cherry trees were planted in Spring 2000. A basalt path laid between privet hedges commemorates the victims of the German concentration camps. A folder produced by the Nature and Environment Federation lists 13 botanical gardens in Amsterdam.

Oranjebos
Situated by the Gaasperplas lake, the park originated from a gift of trees donated by the people of Amsterdam to the Royal Couple, Beatrix and Claus of the Netherlands, on their 25th wedding anniversary.