Three Weathervanes over the Magna Plaza, Amsterdam,The Netherlands, for Weathervane Wednesday

 These three weathervanes were photogaphed near Dam Square, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

This huge building in Amsterdam, located near the Royal Palace in Dam Square, is the former main post office, which was rennovated and turned into a huge shopping mall with over 40 stores and shops.  There are three towers, and each has it's own weathervane.  

1. The main tower on Raadhuisstraat has an onion dome with a gilded, two dimensional weathervane of a postal rider (complete with a post horn).  The post horn is the symbol for the mail service in many countries, including Spain and Germany. 

2. The entrance with two smaller towers each have a gilded banner, one with the letter "W" for Queen Wilhelmina, who was the monarch when this building was being built between 1895 and 1899.  

3. The second banner has a lion rampant, which is a common heraldic symbol seen on coats of arms. The lion rampant is associated with the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the former Dutch Republic, and is part of the royal coat of arms. 

This building housed the central post office, the telegraph company, and the telephone company until 1987 when it was sold to a developer to renovate it into a shopping mall.  The exterior was cleaned and repaired, and the interior completely rebuilt. It reopened as a shopping center in 1992.  

For the truly curious:

Magna Plaza at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Plaza  

The official Magna Plaza website:   https://www.magnaplaza.nl/   

The Dutch Republic Lion at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Republic_Lion   

The Post Horn article at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_horn   

Click here to see over 550 more weathervanes from around the world!   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

-------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Three Weathervanes over the Magna Plaza, Amsterdam,The Netherlands, for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 14, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/05/three-weathervanes-over-magna-plaza.html: accessed [access date]).