Did you know...?

Painting by Van Gogh Map Normal Amsterdam Level Potato field
 
  • The Netherlands and Holland are the same place?
  • One-quarter of Holland is below sealevel?
  • The International Court of Justice (at the Peace Palace) and the International Criminal Court are both in The Hague?
  • Holland still has around a thousand old-fashioned working windmills? 
  • Holland is the third biggest exporter of agricultural produce, trailing only the US and France, even though only 3% of the Dutch population works in the agriculture sector?
  • Holland has no less than 15,000 km of cycle paths?
  • Flevoland, the twelfth province, was reclaimed from the Zuider Zee in 1986?
  • The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe? 
  • Amsterdam is built entirely on piles?
  • Holland always has a coalition government, so it is a land of compromise?
  • Every Dutch person has a bike and there are twice as many bikes as cars?
  • The Van Gogh collections in the Van Gogh Museum and the Kröller-Müller Museum are the largest in the world?
  • Holland has the highest concentration of museums in the world, with 42 in Amsterdam alone? 
  • Holland was one of the six founding members of the European Community? 
  • The former island of Schokland, the fortifications around Amsterdam, the windmills of Kinderdijk-Elshout, Willemstad (in the Netherlands Antilles) and the Rietveld-Schröderhuis are all on UNESCO’s World Heritage List? 
  • The highest point in Holland is 323 metres above sea level, and is referred to as a ‘mountain’? 
  • Amsterdam is the capital, but the government is in The Hague? 
  • Most Dutch people speak a foreign language as well as Dutch?
  • Rotterdam is the second largest port in the world?
  • Holland is 6.7 metres below sea level at its lowest point?
  • Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges?
  • Prince Willem-Alexander, the heir to the Dutch throne, takes personal interest in water management?
  • When you arrive at Schiphol Airport, you are four metres below sealevel? 
  • Holland has more than 4,400 km of navigable rivers, canals and lakes?
  • At Neeltje Jans in Zeeland, you can see how Holland waged war against the sea?