Dam Square is the hub of Amsterdam, with different buildings and monuments of historical interest:
- The most important is the Royal Palace (Koninklijk Palace). Today it no longer houses the royal family but is used for receptions and official ceremonies.
- Next to the Royal Palace you'll see the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk), in which members of the Dutch royal family are crowned and married.
- On the other side of the plaza you will find the National Monument, quite controversial for it's phallic form. It commemorates the soldiers and members of the resistance that died in World War II, and in the sixties it was a center of meeting and protest for the hippy community.
- Other interesting things in this plaza are the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the Old Stock Exchange (under the Bijenkorf department store).
