Sunday, July 15, 2012

MADURODAM IS HOLLAND IN MINIATURE

KEE@FSWMAG.COM
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MICHAEL MANTZ TOOK 4 YEAR OLD SON DANIEL AND ME TO THE SMALLEST TOWN IN HOLLAND. IT IS CALLED MADURODAM AND BOASTS OF HAVING HER MAJESTY QUEEN BEATRICE AS ITS MAYOR FOR A STAGGERING 28 YEARS UNTIL 1980 WHEN SHE BECAEM QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS AND RELINQUISHED THE TITLE OF MAYOR OF MADURODAM WHICH SHE HELD WHEN SHE WAS CROWN PRINCESS AND HEIR PRESUMPTIVE!
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For the innocent, Madurodam is a miniature city made entirely of resin and weather resistant materials since it is openair and exposed to the elements. 

Unlike Disneyland which takes 2 whole days to circumnavigate, Madudodam is perfectly sized---big enough to impress jaded tourists and compact enough to thoroughly explore in 2 hours if you are in a hurry or 3 hours to wander and meander at leisure!

The entry fee is not cheap at RM 58 adult and RM 45 child but is worth it so I recommend it. This is Europe and the average price for any attraction worth its name is around RM 50 to RM 60 so Madurodam is no exception. But this is for a good cause as all profits go to charity!

This is a kids' paradise and you can at least be guaranteed your children will have a great afternoon. There seems to be no security guards to stop children and enthusiastic photographers like me from scrambling onto the manicured lawns and almost stepping on the miniature cars to take photographs though you can just stand anywhere, close your eyes and snap away at random and be assured of great pictures. Madurodam is that photogenic!

Like London's Madame Tussauds which allows visitors to touch, caress and grope the waxworks, Madurodam must have factored in the usual damage allowance. After all, the rain, snow, sleet and frost let alone the thaw will already wreak havoc on the exposed buildings and I guess maintenance work is constant and unavoidable. I was told all libraries allocate 2% to 5% of their budget for vandalised books. 

So it was great fun not to stumble on 'Do Not Touch' or 'Do Not Walk on the Grass' at every turn. I had a pleasant time watching the kids enjoying themselves. I still prefer Disneyland but Madurodam is good enough for an afternoon out.

The buildings are toyish enough in real life but in photographs they appear so real they look surreal and other worldly with adults towering over the palaces and historic monuments. Your sense of perspective is twisted and the effect is compounded as Madurodam is located within The Hague's city and there are tall buildings in the background to increase the confusion!





Madurodam is a miniature city located in Scheveningen, The Hague, in Netherlands. It is an imaginary Dutch town on a 1:25 scale, composed of typical Dutch buildings and landmarks located in Holland. This major Dutch tourist attraction was built in 1952 and has been visited by millions of visitors.

The miniature city was named after George Maduro, a Jewish law student from Curacao who fought the Nazis occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. In 1946 Maduro was posthumously awarded the medal of Knight 4th-class of the Military Order of William, the highest and oldest military decoration in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the valor he had demonstrated in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops. His parents donated the funds necessary for the Madurodam project.

On July 2, 1952, the then teenaged Princes Beatrix was appointed Mayor of Madurodam, after which she was given a tour of her town. When Beatrix became Queen of Holland, she relinquished her mayorial role. Today, the mayor of Madurodam is elected by a youth municipal council consisting of 25 pupils from schools in the region and is hotly fought over as it is seen as a great accolade in your biodata and will greatly improve your chances during job interviews.


Madurodam, the smallest city in the Netherlands, is open 365 days a year. Many well-known and unknown attractions from all over the Netherlands are on display.

Miniature city Madurodam, all of Holland in one city!
For almost 60 years, the world famous miniature city of Madurodam has been the perfect place to get acquainted with every surprising aspect of the Netherlands: Canal buildings in Amsterdam,  the Dom Tower in Utrecht, ‘het Binnenhof’ (courtyard) in The Hague, with the Golden Carriage and a section of the  Delta Works. In Madurodam you’ll find everything the Netherlands are famous for, replicated to the smallest detail on a scale of 1:25.

Madurodam is always in motion. At the modern Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, all types of aircraft are taxiing and catering trucks drive off and on. Windmills are turning, tour boats move down the canals, a fire is being extinguished in the harbor and trains traverse the city across the largest miniature train track in the world. The shop has a wide selection of gifts and souvenirs. The playground and the picnic area complete the park.

The park is amazing, active and informative
Madurodam is divided into three areas: ‘water as friend and foe’, ‘old town centres’ and ‘The Netherlands as a source of inspiration for the world’ (architecture, innovation, entertainment and design).
Both young and old are be able to roll up their sleeves and get to work, for example by actually operating a scale model of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, pumping out a polder and loading and unloading ships in the Port of Rotterdam.

Digital information screens and a personal smartphone give visitors a multimedia experience of the stories behind the objects. A playground themed around the Wadden Sea and new catering facilities completes a day out to Madurodam.

Address
Madurodam
George Maduroplein 1
2584 RZ  Den Haag
Nederland
P +31 (0)70 416 24 00
F +31 (0)70 351 21 85
info@madurodam.nl
http://www.madurodam.nl/



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