Oosterpark, Amsterdam

Oosterpark is a city park with a winding pond and a small island, shaped as part of Amsterdam’s public landscape. Its creation dates to 1891, and it was the municipality’s first large park. The design belongs to landscape architect Leonard Springer; the park was later renovated by Max Oostram, with that work completed in 2012.

Look toward the pond: its curving form preserves part of an old mill waterway. The park also retains a section of the cemetery that had to be moved before construction could begin. That relocation caused strong protests, before the cemetery was transferred to the Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats.

The National Slavery Monument commemorates the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands on 1 July 1863. Erwin de Vries created it, and it was unveiled on 1 July 2002. Each year, the Keti Koti gathering brings the commemoration back to this park on 1 July.

You can also find De schreeuw, a memorial to filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh, who was murdered nearby in 2004. Along the park near Linnaeusstraat, grey heron nests add living detail to this place of memory, water, and contested history.