The Royal Palace was originally built as a town hall for Amsterdam’s administrative and judicial authorities.

In 1648 the burgomaster and magistrates of Amsterdam commissioned the famous architect Jacob van Campen to design their new building. Amsterdam at the time was the most powerful trading nation in the world and people were attracted by its power and prestige. Newcomers were flocking to the city and in the space of a century its population increased sixfold. As a result, the responsibilities of government were greater than ever before. The old Gothic Town Hall was no longer up to its task and the renowned Exchange Bank, which was housed there, was unable to cope with its growing workload. As a result, the city fathers decided to build a bigger and more impressive town hall, an edifice worthy of a metropolis of Amsterdam’s stature. Jacob van Campen’s classicist building, recalling the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, was monumental by Dutch standards of the day. Both the architecture and the decoration proclaimed by the city’s supremacy and prosperity. The Antwerp sculptor Artus Quellinus and other celebrated artists were engaged to execute Van Campen’s designs in oil paint and costly stone. The most important rooms were decorated with paintings that related to their function, made by famous artists like Rembrandt van Rijn, Ferdinand Bol and Govaert Flinck. Though far from ready, the town hall opened its doors for business in 1655. The delighted citizens of Amsterdam proudly referred to it as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’, and the poet Joost Vondel proclaimed it the ‘crown of creation’. He said it was built like the human body: ‘It has a midriff, arms, feet, head and shoulders…..and also internal organs. Each limb, each organ has its own function, purpose and disposition ‘. The town hall was built to serve a secular purpose, but there was more to it than that. It was homage to creation, with all its splendour alluding to a superior power.