Amstelpark, Amsterdam

Amstelpark is a public park whose planting, paths, ponds and surviving garden features began as part of the Floriade horticultural exhibition of 1972. Much of its design came from landscape architect Egbert Mos, who prepared the grounds through Amsterdam’s public works department. The exhibition attracted about 4.3 million visitors between late March and 1 October 1972, and its former grounds covered about 70 hectares.

Afterward, about 45 hectares remained as a permanent park, slightly smaller than Vondelpark. Several traces of that spectacular event are still here: the rose garden, rhododendron valley, orangery, greenhouses, maze and little Amstel train. The exhibition also featured a dahlia display with more than 40,000 plants, a rhododendron collection exceeding 8,000 shrubs, gardens from different countries and a butterfly garden.

The temporary cable car and panoramic gondolas disappeared, but the landscape endured. Part of the land once belonged to the historic country estate Amstelrust. Beyond the paths, a planted corridor connects this park with the Amsterdamse Bos; in 2012, six rope bridges were added across roads for squirrels moving between the habitats. In 2022, municipal protection was extended across the park, safeguarding a landscape originally intended to remain only for the exhibition season.