Museumplein

Museumplein is a vast, open grass rectangle carved into the dense city grid of Amsterdam. It functions as the backyard for three of the world’s most important art institutions, but it began as a nineteenth century marshy dumping ground for industrial waste. Before it was a manicured lawn, the area sat outside the city walls. Today, the sunken ponds and paved paths serve as a public stage, often holding more people for a casual weekend picnic than the galleries contain for their masterpieces.