Amsterdam prepares canals for ice skating fun

DutchAmsterdam.nl — The city of Amsterdam has banned boats from using a number of canals in the hope that they will freeze over, turning the historic water ways into a giant ice skating rink.

In a ritual repeated once or twice every winter when an extended period of below-freezing temperatures is forecast, Waternet has issued the ban for sections of a number of canals.

• Brouwersgracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Keizersgracht.
• Prinsengracht from Brouwersgracht up to Leidsegracht.
• Keizersgracht from Brouwersgracht up to Leidsegracht.
• Leliegracht from Prinsengracht up to and including Keizersgracht.
• Lijnbaansgracht from Brouwersgracht up to and including Passeerdersgracht.
• Passeerdersgracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Prinsengracht.
• Looiersgracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Prinsengracht.
• Lauriergracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Prinsengracht.
• Bloemgracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Prinsengracht.
• Egelantiersgracht from Lijnbaansgracht up to and including Prinsengracht.

During some winters the canals freeze over, creating one of the world’s most beautiful skating rinks.
© Amsterdam Toerisme & Congres Bureau. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Used by permission

Waternet is the municipal organization responsible for drinking water, waste water, surface water and safety behind the dykes.

The Executive Board of Amsterdam Ice Protocol allows for a boating ban when ice begins to form and nightime frost is predicted.

“The ice is not yet thick enough to skate on, but forecasts says it will remain very cold. The steps we are taking now hopefully mean we can soon enjoy Hendrik Averkamp-like scenes,” Amsterdam alderman Maarten van Poelgeest (Town and Country Planning, Water Management, ICT) commented, referring a Dutch painter known for his seventeenth-century paintings from Holland’s winter landscapes.

Waternet meanwhile reminds people that the boating ban does not mean it is currently safe to get onto the ice.
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