Vijzelgracht metro station (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Station Vijzelgracht'') is a station on the Route 52 (North–South Line) of the

Amsterdam Metro The Amsterdam Metro ( nl, Amsterdamse metro) is a rapid transit system serving Amsterdam, Netherlands, and extending to the surrounding municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. Until 2019 it also served the municipality of Amstelveen but thi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was opened on 22 July 2018. Vijzelgracht is an underground station situated in the

Weteringschans Amsterdam-Centrum is the inner-most borough and historical city centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands, containing the majority of the city's landmarks. Established in 2002, Amsterdam-Centrum was the last area in the city to be granted the status of se ...

neighbourhood of the

Amsterdam-Centrum Amsterdam-Centrum is the inner-most borough and historical city centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands, containing the majority of the city's landmarks. Established in 2002, Amsterdam-Centrum was the last area in the city to be granted the status of s ...

borough. The station, designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects, is situated beneath the Vijzelstraat between Prinsengracht and Weteringschans in the former

Vijzelgracht The Vijzelgracht is a street and former canal in Amsterdam. The Vijzelgracht is adjacent to the Grachtengordel (canal belt) and is an extension of one of the most important city radii for public transport and normal traffic. This through route ...

canal that was dammed in 1933. The station has a 125-metre-long island platform, approximately 9 metres wide. There are two entrances, the north entrance near the Maison Descartes and the south entrance near Weteringplantsoen. The south entrance also serves the tram lines 1, 7, 19 (east–west) and 24 (north–south). The station lies 26 metres below street level and is expected to handle a number of 22,000 passengers and passengers per day. The platform is accessible by both lift and escalator. The station is future-proofed for a possible parking structure which would be located at the south entrance. It is also future-proofed for a long-proposed East–West metro line that would be built 11 metres below street level under either the

Singelgracht The Singelgracht () is the waterway that borders the entire Amsterdam Center and flows along the Nassaukade, Stadhouderskade and Mauritskade. Formerly the canal and the ramparts on the city side formed the outer defenses of the city. Name The n ...

or Weteringschans, with the line running over the North–South tunnel and under the south ticket hall.

History

Construction problems

Vijzelgracht station was beset with construction issues affecting nearby structures. On 19 June 2008, four historic buildings on the Vijzelstraat subsided 15 cm and its residents evacuated due to a breach in a tunnel wall, causing water to enter the tunnel, eroding the pilings that supported the buildings, with work stopped on 23 June. Work resumed on 9 September 2008, with the municipal government and the project bureau doing testing and assuring local residents that issues had been mitigated. However, on 10 September, additional buildings began subsiding again, this time 23 centimetres, again caused by water leaks in the tunnel. In January 2009 a whistleblower, a concrete delivery driver, spoke to the press about the use of old concrete that resulted in cast walls that were brittle and of poor quality. Testing was ordered by the municipal government and conducted by the research firm Deltares, which found 114 weak points and a hole in the concrete sheet pilings used in the Vijzelgracht project. According to the firm, these weak spots were mostly caused by the "use of bad and contaminated concrete and poor reinforcement".

Ramses Shaffy naming proposal

In 2011, a proposal was made to name the station after Dutch actor and singer

Ramses Shaffy Ramses Shaffy (29 August 1933 – 1 December 2009) was a Dutch-French singer and actor who became popular during the 1960s. His most famous songs include "Zing, vecht, huil, bid, lach, werk en bewonder", "We zullen doorgaan", "Pastorale", "Samm ...

, a longtime resident of the Vijzelgracht neighbourhood. The municipal government decided to retain the Vijzelgracht name under the policy of naming stations after their locations. However, the city invited artists to create a work of art dedicated to Shaffy in the metro station. On 23 February 2013,

Liesbeth List Elisabeth Dorathea List, generally known as Liesbeth List (December 12, 1941 – March 25, 2020) was a Dutch singer, stage actress and television personality. She became popular during the 1960s and frequently collaborated with Ramses Shaffy. Sh ...

announced on the Dutch television programme "Opium" that a portrait of Ramses Shaffy, interwoven with map lines of the Metro, was designed at the metro station, designed by Dutch artist Marjan Laaper.

Gallery

File:20161208VZG01.jpg, Artwork depicting

over the southern escalators File:Ingang van metrostation Vijzelgracht.jpg, Vijzelgracht entrance, May 2018 File:Bord metrostation Vijzelgracht.jpg, Vijzelgracht station signage File:20180120 VZG02.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, south ticket hall, January 2018 File:20180120 VZG03.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, south-end escalators, January 2018 File:20180120 VZG06.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, platform, January 2018 File:20180120 VZG07.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, south-end mezzanine escalators; at 47 metres, it is longest in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

nations, January 2018 File:20161208VZG03.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, platform, December 2016 File:20151211 VZG01.jpg, Vijzelgracht station, view of the platform from the northern entrance, December 2015 File:20140524 Vijzelgracht01.JPG, Vijzelgracht station, view of the platform from the southern entrance, May 2014 File:20140524 Vijzelgracht02.JPG, Northern station entrance, as seen from the trackbed, May 2014 File:2011-05-28 Vijzelgracht02.jpg, Platform-level station box, May 2011 File:Vijzelgracht1.jpg, Station entrance under construction; at right is the Walloon Orphanage/Maison Descartes File:2012-02-10 VZG 01.jpg, Excavation and demolition, February 2012 File:2012-02-10 VZG 02.jpg, Southern end of the station box, before the TBM breakthrough, February 2012

References

{{Amsterdam Metro Line 52 navbox Amsterdam Metro stations located underground