The Nieuwe Zijde (New Side) on the western side of Amsterdam, is home to Dam Square where tourists abound in this hubbub of activity among the Koninklijk Paleis, the National Monument, the Nieuwe Kerk, all the street entertainers, the ice skating rink (in winter), the shopping malls and shopping streets, the restaurants, etc. Today I visited the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) to see the Indonesian Exhibit. Throughout the years it has hosted many exhibitions of treasures from other countries and cultures, often working in collaboration with other museums. The Indonesian exhibition consists of around 330 archeological and anthropological treasures from Jakarta’s National Museum of Indonesia and the National Museum of Ethnology of Leiden in the Netherlands. This exhibition reunites many collections that were divided up between these two institutions as dictated by official policy in 1862, when Indonesia was still a colony belonging to the Netherlands, and emphasizes the cooperation between the two countries as equal partners. I was especially impressed by the giant sculptures and Buddhas, as well as, with the Nieuwe Kerk itself, with its beautiful gothic architecture, stained-glass window featuring Queen Wilhelmina, the elaborate Great Organ, and the tomb of Michiel de Ruyter.
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