Amalie of Nassau-Dietz

Getting around

Regulated Fares and Timed Travel

Travel costs were fixed by regulation, such as three stuivers for the Delft-Rotterdam summer trip, and hourglasses were used on boats to ensure ships did not pause too long at stops. Children up to age two traveled for free, while those up to twelve paid half price.

Daily life

Religious focus in children's education

Children learned to read, write, and perform arithmetic at elementary schools, with instruction often heavily focused on reading the Bible and the Calvinist catechism. Schooling was considered a religious duty, and by 1680, roughly 44 percent of women in Amsterdam were able to sign their marriage certificates.

What people wore

Festive winter skating layers

During winter, people of all classes went ice skating and wore extra layers of wool under their everyday clothes. These layers were intentionally visible to add a touch of festivity to the otherwise drab winter landscape.

Music

Church towers as musical instruments

Carillon bells, technically refined by the Hemony brothers around 1640, turned church towers into massive musical instruments that could be heard throughout the city.

At the table

Bread as the Dietary Cornerstone

Bread was the essential element of the diet, sometimes eaten as sop—a mixture of bread and vegetables—or as sweet treats like poffertjes and oliekoecken. Poor families often relied on dense, dark rye bread as their primary source of calories.