Spui (Amsterdam)
The Spui is a square in the centre of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The Spui was originally a body of water that formed the southern limit of the city until the 1420s, when the Singel canal was dug as an outer moat around the city. In 1882 the Spui was filled in and became the square that we know today.
In 1996 the square was renovated and is now largely car-free. Tram lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 14, 16, 24 and 25 stop at or near the Spui.
The Spui is a popular destination for book-lovers, with a weekly book market on Fridays and a variety of bookstores on or near the square, including two shops dedicated to English-language literature (the American Book Center relocated to the Spui in October 2006). There is also a weekly art market on the Spui, every Sunday.
The Spui provides entry to the Begijnhof, a Medieval courtyard.
A small statue, Het Lieverdje ("The Little Darling"), stands on the square. The statue represents the youth of Amsterdam, always playing pranks yet with a heart of gold. He was a gift to the city from a cigarette company in 1960. In the 1960s, the Provo counterculture movement held weekly gatherings around the statue.
Also located at the Spui is the work of Lawrence Weiner, Een vertaling van de ene taal in de andere (A Translation from one language to another), three pairs of two stones placed against each other, located at different places of the square. Each pair presents the sentence in Dutch on one side, and on the other side in English, Arabic and Surinaams respectively.
The statue Het Lieverdje
The English/Dutch piece of Een vertaling van de ene taal in de andere
The Helios building
Spui district in the centre of Amsterdam, Summer 2013
Coordinates: 52°22′07″N 4°53′22″E / 52.36861°N 4.88944°E
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