Madurodam
Encyclopedia
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. It is a model
Model (physical)
A physical model is a smaller or larger physical copy of an object...
of a Dutch town on a 1:25 scale, composed of typical Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
buildings and landmarks, as are found at various locations in the country. This major Dutch tourist attraction was built in 1952 and has been visited by tens of millions of visitors ever since. The miniature city was named after George Maduro
George Maduro
George John Lionel Maduro was a Dutch student who served as an officer in the 1940 Battle of the Netherlands and distinguished himself in repelling the German attack on The Hague.The miniature city of Madurodam is named after him, as well as the Maduroplein area in Scheveningen, in The...
, a Jewish law student from Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
who fought the Nazi 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 capital to start the Madurodam project.
On July 2, 1952, the then teenaged princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
Beatrix
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
was appointed mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Madurodam, after which she was given a tour of her town. When Beatrix became queen
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, she relinquished this function. Today, the mayor of Madurodam is elected by a youth municipal council consisting of 25 pupils from schools in the region.
This park was the inspiration for Storybook Land
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Storybook Land Canal Boats is an attraction located at the Disneyland and Disneyland Park theme parks. Passengers embark on a leisurely-paced outdoor boat ride through a winding canal featuring settings from Disney animated films recreated in miniature...
, attraction which was opened in 1955. In addition, a visit to Madurodam inspired Fernando de Ercilla to start the project of Catalunya en Miniatura
Catalunya en Miniatura
Catalunya en Miniatura is miniature park inaugurated in 1983 in Torrelles de Llobregat, 17 km from Barcelona. With 60.000 square meters, 35.000 of them devoted to the scale models, it is one of the largest miniature parks in the world, and the largest of the 14 miniature building exhibitions...
, one of the largest miniature parks in the world, which was opened in 1983 in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain.
See also
- Miniature parkMiniature parkA miniature park is an open space that displays miniature buildings and models, and is usually open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village, or it can contain a number of different sets of models...
- Catalunya en MiniaturaCatalunya en MiniaturaCatalunya en Miniatura is miniature park inaugurated in 1983 in Torrelles de Llobregat, 17 km from Barcelona. With 60.000 square meters, 35.000 of them devoted to the scale models, it is one of the largest miniature parks in the world, and the largest of the 14 miniature building exhibitions...
, miniature park opened in 1983, with 35.000 m² model area and 60.000 m² total area, located 17 km away from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain - MiniatürkMiniatürkMiniatürk is a miniature park situated at the north-eastern shore of Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. It was opened May 2, 2003. Miniatürk covers a total area of . It is one of the world's largest miniature parks with its model area...
, miniature park with 15.000 m² model area, and 60.000 m² total area in Istanbul, Turkey. - Huis ten BoschHuis Ten Bosch (theme park)is a theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture that recreates the Netherlands by displaying real size copies of old Dutch buildings. The name Huis Ten Bosch literally translates into English as "House in the Forest"...
— Japanese theme park modelled on the cities and landscape of the Low Countries - Mini-EuropeMini-Europe-See also:* Madurodam — Model village in Netherlands containing miniature famous Dutch landmarks* Catalunya en Miniatura — miniature park located 17 km away from Barcelona, with an exhibition area of 35.000 m2 including all major buildings of Catalonia and of Antoni Gaudí* Bekonscot...
in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium. - Mini IsraelMini IsraelMini Israel is a miniature park located near Latrun, Israel in the Ayalon Valley. Opened in November 2002, the site contains miniature replicas of hundreds of buildings and landmarks in Israel...
near Latroun, in IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. - MinimundusMinimundusThe Minimundus is a miniature park on the Wörthersee at Klagenfurt in Carinthia, Austria. It displays over 150 miniature models of architecture from around the world, built at a ratio of 1:25....
in KlagenfurtKlagenfurt-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.