The open-air theatre

In front of you is a covered stage with a bank of seats, and in the summer months this is the busiest spot in the park. The Vondelpark Openluchttheater has played here since 1974, and admission has stayed free throughout.

The stage came about because the music was already here. The Vondelpark parties grew through the fifties, and from the late sixties the park became the meeting ground of the Provo movement and of travellers from all over the world, with performances that simply started in the grass. A theatre with a roof, a sound system and a programme gave that habit a shape and a place.

It holds about fifteen hundred people. Dance on Friday evening, children's shows and comedy on Saturday, music on Sunday, and anyone who thought it worthwhile leaves something behind on the way out. That principle goes back to the park's own beginnings, when the upkeep had to come from donations as well.

Carry on west along the path, until a white house with shutters and a playground beside it appears among the trees.