Amsterdam to bury time capsule in Dam Square during Open Monument Day
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By Simone Jacobs
A time capsule will be buried in the middle of Dam Square in Amsterdam on Saturday, September 13, during the Open Monument Days. Taking place in the same year as Amsterdam’s 750th birthday, the time capsule is seen as the perfect opportunity to preserve the present day of the Dutch capital for the future.
Amsterdam preserves history with 2025 time capsule
At 11am on Saturday, September 13, 2025, the city of Amsterdam will bury a time capsule in Dam Square to “capture and preserve the present era for Amsterdammers of the future”. Anyone in the city is welcome to watch as the ceremony takes place.
The contents of the time capsule will include 10 portraits of Amsterdammers today by Humans of Amsterdam, three stories from high school students who participated in the contest “My Amsterdam in the Future”, an Amsterdam 750 coin, a video showing Amsterdam in 2025, a letter from Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema, a spoken word text about the future of the city by Gershwin Bonevacia, a poem by Jesse Laport and a magazine with stories about freedom, tolerance and diversity.
The capsule is being buried during Amsterdam 750, the city’s big year-long celebration of its birthday, and will be dug up again as part of Amsterdam 800 celebrations in 2075. Burying time capsules is a tradition that takes place to mark special occasions such as the opening of a world exhibition or the installation of a monument statue. For example, a time capsule was placed in the Marathon Tower when it was constructed for the 1928 Olympic Games.
Open Monument Day weekend in the Netherlands
Not only does the occasion coincide with Amsterdam750, but the time capsule is also being buried during the Open Monument Days in the Netherlands. On the weekend of September 13 to 14, more than 5.500 Dutch monuments will be open to the public for free.
In Amsterdam, 50 monuments will open their doors to the public. “Visitors can discover places where Amsterdammers celebrate, dine together, and make memories, both past and present,” writes the municipality. “Think beautiful halls in canal houses, wedding venues in churches, and iconic clubs. This 39th edition is especially festive, as the program continues late into the night on Saturday.”
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Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more