The Amsterdam Dungeon!
If you ever get the chance to go to Holland, there are hundreds of things to do here! This past week, I have learned there is so much I haven’t seen until this past week and there are tons of activities and sites I still need to see here! I have so much to share about this vacation but I am going to stick to one right now. It was actually the Amsterdam Dungeon and it was an amazing place! It is a tourist attraction on Rokin, between the Dam Square and Rembrandtplein for those who understand the Amsterdam layout. It looked rather creepy when Dutchie, I, my brother and his girl decided to go. Of course if you are in Amsterdam, go to the exchange offices and tourist booths, my brother and sis-in-law found a great deal where we would go to the Amsterdam Dungeon and Madam Tussauds for €25 instead of €36, so definitely keep an eye out, tourist places usually have stuff and if they don’t have anything appealing go to the exchange places. Aside from exchanging dollars into Euros they have other information but I am getting sidetracked.
As I was saying, it looked kind of creepy in a fun, let’s get scared kind of way! When we went in we had a woman all decked out in costume hand us axes and my brother on this device. We looked like we were about to chop his head off when she took the picture! Once our little photo op was done we waited for some more people to come in before we got a tour of Amsterdam during the Dutch East Indies Company most influential and profitable period, as well as the time during the great plague and the Blood Council, the 16 and 17 hundreds. We had a bar maid attempt to recruit us for work on board a ship, offer ale she spit in and told us tales of the men working on the trading ships. The whole place was decked out to look like a real tavern one might go to after getting off a ship. She eyed the whole group asking them to join a ship and eying the ladies for jewelry when she actually confronted Dutchie when she saw two rings on her hand. They had a bit of a staring contest and neither wanted to budge! These actors are great let me tell you! She finally kicked us out and we ended up at bottom of a ship with a captain bellowing to bring the fresh working hand on deck to start work! There was some more storytelling and then the room filled with smoke so that you couldn’t see in front of you! They were under attack you see.
Poor Dutchie, not only did she get picked on with the bar maid, she got picked on by the make shift doctor. You see, the make shift doctor was looking at the dead doctor, inspecting him and verifying that it was, in fact, the plague. There were more patients of course; one in particular needed his leg amputated. It just so happened that where Dutchie was sitting was in direct alignment with the doctor and when he hacked the leg off, blood squirted out and Duchies leg was soaked. More importantly though, even with all the antics of the would be doctor there was a story to be told of the plague and how it ravaged through Europe. There were stories of the trade ships and then finally came the Blood Council.
| Council of Blood at The Amsterdam Dungeon is a glimpse into 16th century Holland and the primeval law enforcement that encased everyone’s life in fear. |
| Law breakers were subjected to hideous punishment, sometimes involving mutilation, burning and other torturous methods that rarely reflected the severity of the crime. |
| One example of this fear-inducing extremity was the Council of Blood, created in 1567 by Prince Alva. Cases of suspected treason and heresy were sent to this tribunal for their fate to be creatively sealed. |
| A few of the ingenious methods for ‘disposing’ of these people are demonstrated at the Amsterdam Dungeon. You will be shocked and appalled at the savage brutality employed by the Council of Blood. Wince and gasp in awe of the sheer scale of horror that was once common place. (site here) |
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Going through the Dungeon you see a variety of rooms with things that are less than pleasing. There were contraptions for stretching the body pealing the skin and chopping, breaking, stabbing the body into any form of confession. For whatever the person was in there for, they were tortured and beaten practically to death. Once they confessed they were sentenced to death in a variety of ways. If they didn’t confess, they died during their torture. When we were put in front of the Blood Council Dutchie was once again the center of attention. This time it was a t-shirt she was wearing that caught the courts eye. New York was plastered on her chest, a shirt we bought in the city and the court asked her name and condemned her on the count of bad fashion sense! She would have her left arm and leg removed and they would watch her swim in circles until she sank!
To say the least it was an interesting afternoon! Educational and fun as hell! The four of us had a blast and I highly recommend it to anyone in Amsterdam!
Amsterdam Dungeon, Amsterdam Tourism, Worldly Chatter, Amsterdam, Rokin
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm
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