Schouwburg theatre

Ground plan. The theatre was built in 1637, by Jacob van Campen, who coined the word Schouwburg for it. Amsterdam was in the midst of her Golden Age, and gradually the possibility a permanent theater building began to be debated. Van Campen, known as an architect and the designer of the Royal Palace, designed a simple permanent theatre, according to the contemporary Italian example from that time. This theatre was due to be opened on 26 December 1637 with Gijsbrecht van Aemstel, a play specially written for the occasion by Vondel. Vondel had also written the text in the architrave of the theatre's entrance: De weereld is een speeltoneel Elck speelt zijn rol en krijght zijn deel (The world is a theatre, Everyone plays his role and gets his part). This entrance still survives from the original building . The theater of Van Campen served until 1664, when it became clear it was too small and ill-keeping with the Baroque architecture of the 1660s. The theatre temporarily closed at the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War and the new building - twice as large as the old one and adapted to the requirements of that time - finally opened in 1665