Madurodam

By: Gideon Blok

H4A

CKV

Intro:

About 2 years ago I went to Madurodam with my family, it was an awesome experience and I definitely want to go another time soon. In this review I’ll give some information about Madurodam, for instance the history and present and I will finish with my opinion.

List of subjects:

The history of Madurodam The set-up of Madurodam Things you probably didn’t know about Madurodam My opinion and if you should go yes or no.

The history of Madurodam:

Madurodam opened on the 2nd of July in 1952. The idea came from Bep Boon-van der Starp who used the British Bekonscot Model Village as a source of inspiration. Bep Boon-van der Starp was a member of “Stichting Nederlands Studenten Sanatorium” this foundation helps people with tuberculosis to get a treatment and helps them to study. Since tuberculosis almost is extinct in the Netherlands the money they make nowadays is sent to other helping foundations.

The set up of Madurodam:

Models:

All models in Madurodam are homemade in the workshop. The bigger buildings like the “Dom Tower” and castles are made of wood and timber, other buildings are made of synthetic products which are cut with the machine. This product is used in small buildings like houses and other attributes like cars and trains. For moving objects they use brass (geelkoper of messing) since it can endure longer. But all this nice works need maintenance, once a year everything gets a check-up and gets cleaned and sometimes totally renewed.

The railway station:

Madurodam has one of the biggest model railway stations in Europe. It’s over 4km long and has a capacity of 12 trains, not to forget are the obstacles like bridges and hills the trains has to climb.

The model trains are made of brass and synthetic, they are handmade because everything has to be as detailed as possible. The trains are, just like the big ones in real, going to the workshop for maintenance. This is just like in reality because we don’t want a train crash to occur in real, so also not in miniature.

In 2009 did Madurodam something really surprising, they made a DVD with footage of how it would look like if you where sitting in one of the

trains. I checked on youtube and found some awesome footage of this, even the sound sounds real.

The trees:

No city is complete without trees, and unlike all the other things you see in Madurodam the trees are actually real. All the trees are kept small by intense cutting but still let them keep their original form. Some of the trees are 50 years old which means they’ve been there since the beginning of Madurodam.

Things you probably didn’t know about Madurodam.

Did you know?

All buildings a Madurodam are 15 times smaller then in reality.

Madurodam is named after George Maduro, a student from Curacao who became an officer after the battle for the Netherlands in 1940, be he died in 1945.

Madurodam has had different types of exhibitions, like Nijntje (from the children books) in 2005, Magic ice Madurodam (2006-2007), Sesame street in Madurodam (2008–2009) and this year was Puk v/d Petteflat (by Annie M.G. Schmidt)

At this picture you can see the model of the house of birth of George Maduro, on the plaque this text is written: In hem eert Nederland zijn oorlogshelden uit de strijd 1940-1945.

My opinion:

I really liked the day I went. I was with family which is an rare occasion because I’m in the swimming pool 5 till 7 days a week, which all has to do with water polo (training/giving training/matches), so that was the 1st plus of the day. The second was you could really see the effort of the years, everything was nice and set-up just the way it is in reality so yet another plus. Another good thing was that you could walk everywhere you wanted to go and you weren’t blamed if you touched anything so yet another plus.

Now the downsides, The only downside I could think of is that when it’s to crowed you can’t see anything, and when it’s to cold it isn’t fun either, although… I think it’s wonder full to see all the little buildings covered in snow.

Come to think of it if the snow is 2 cm on the buildings the snow on the real buildings should be around 30 cm… o_O which would be kind of awesome if you ask me.

An other thing I noticed when I was looking on the internet was the strange things that would happen if everything was in scale 1:15, the Humans would ne humongous and the animals like this seagull will eat you for breakfast

If you haven’t been to Madurodam yet, take this advice: GO! I’m not kidding Madurodam is nice for everyone of every age of every gender of every country in the world. Madurodam resembles a lot of things:

1. Hard work (all models are handmade)2. A great heart (giving money to foundations)3. And last but not least it shows you the Netherlands on its best.