WorldPride Amsterdam’s exhibition on its queer history extended into 2027
Queer Amsterdam, the Pink City exhibition at De Nieuwe Kerk is open until 4 April 2027
Queer Amsterdam, the Pink City, one of WorldPride Amsterdam’s landmark exhibitions, will remain open until 4 April 2027, extending far beyond the event’s standard programming, which closes this month.
The show, housed in the 15th-century De Nieuwe Kerk on Dam Square, documents the city’s LGBTQ+ history and its years as the world’s gay capital, charting key milestones including the 1987 Homomonument (the world’s first public monument to the LGBTQ+ community), the 1996 Canal Pride, and 2001 marriage equality, which made the Netherlands the first country to legalise same-sex marriage.
While Attitude was attending WorldPride Amsterdam as a guest of two of the event’s sponsors, Booking.com and Eurostar, we had the opportunity to visit Queer Amsterdam, the Pink City exhibition. Entry is €25, or included free with the I Amsterdam City Card.
A marriage that changed everything
The exhibition starts with the marriage of Hilletje Jans and Willem Adriaensz who in 1632 were married in De Nieuwe Kerk. A few years prior to the wedding, Adriaensz changed their first name from Barbara to Willem, cut their hair short, started wearing men’s clothes and enlisted as a soldier. When the authorities learn of the situation, the marriage is annulled and Adriaensz is banished from Amsterdam for 24 years.
As the we carry on through the exhibition’s timeline, we find ourselves staring at an imposing oil painting of King William II. While married to Anna Paulowna, he was accused of sexual relations with men, a criminal offence at the time. In 1848, under the threat of these rumours being made public, he agreed to constitutional revisions.
Amsterdam’s forgotten cruising spots
There is a wooden model of city hall, which in the 18th-century was a popular ‘kruysplaats’, or cruising spot. The arches of the building offered shadows where the men could cough, step on each other’s feet or expose their elbows to alert attendees of their interest. There is also large map of the city on the wall with all gays bars and cruising spots from the 1850s to the 1940s.
The night same-sex marriage became law
A pair of men’s wedding rings and a cake topper of two brides highlights two of the many same-sex weddings that took place on 1 April 2001 when Holland became the first country in the world with marriage equality.
There is a haunting oil painting by Thomas van Dun that he painted in 2024 called Sanctuarium, that reflects how he felt when he learned he was HIV positive. In 2024, he won the NTR programme Project Rembrandt for this work.
Objects from performance artists, trans and intersex people sit alongside historic footage which is subtitled in both Dutch and English. We left the exhibition with a better understanding of both the Amsterdam’s history and our own.
Free transport, entry and more
Alongside our visit to Queer Amsterdam, the Pink City, we took advantage of the I Amsterdam City Card, which gets you free public transport, a bicycle rental, a canal cruise and entry into most of the city’s major museums as well as some venues on day trips from the city.
In the short time we had to use the cards, we managed to visit the MOCO Museum to see some of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol’s works, a museum about Rembrandt in his former home, the city’s De Hortus botanical gardens and impressive ARTIS zoo.