Palace on Dam Square

If you look at the drawing on display, you can see what used to stand here before this palace existed. That was Amsterdam's old town hall, and it burned down in 1652. A spectacular end to a building, but also the perfect excuse to build something far more impressive. Architect Jacob van Campen got the commission, and between 1648 and 1665 he created one of the most stunning examples of Dutch Golden Age architecture in existence. 

But here's the part that really puts things in perspective: building anything grand in Amsterdam was a nightmare. The city sits on waterlogged, marshy ground that simply swallows heavy structures whole. The only solution was to drive thousands of wooden piles deep into the earth to create a stable foundation. For this palace, workers hammered in no fewer than 13,659 piles. That is essentially a small forest buried underneath your feet. The building served as Amsterdam's town hall for centuries before becoming a royal palace. 

And that balcony you can see from Dam Square? Napoleon had that added because he wanted to wave down at his subjects in style. These days it's remembered for a far more romantic reason: it's where King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima shared their first public kiss.