The Keizersgracht is a street with a lot of monumental buildings. Many of them show subtle signs of their old age which you’ll spot if you keep your eyes open. Number 324, for example. It was unveiled in 1787 as Felix Meritis, a meeting place for artists, scientists and boffins of all sorts. In 1888 the building was bought by Holdert & Co, which grew to be a large newspaper publisher. The second panel reads “Nieuwsblad voor Nederland”, the third panel: “Holdert & Co”. The bottom two panels say something like “advertentie-bureau” and “advertentie afdeling”, which probably stems from a time when lots of papers were headquartered here with their advertising departments.

After WWII the communist party was housed here for a while, which also published its own paper. In the 60’s the building went back to being an artsy-fartsy place with theatre and music performances. Then in the 90’s it returned to its original state - Felix Meritis.

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