In most of the places it may be a dream but in fact, such a city exists elsewhere - "A miniature city or a model city", in Holland. Like Amsterdam it is well known as Madurodam.
Inaugurated on July 2, 1952, it is named after George Maduro, a war hero and leftinent of II world war.
His parents wanted to commemorate a memorial in his remembrance and Mrs. Boon van der Starp, a member of society for the support of Dutch Sanatorium co-ordinated and their vision came true in the form of Madurodam. The profit gained out of this monument in the form of donations, entrance fees, other charges etc is used to develop the students' sanatorium.
Queen Beatrix of Holland was one of the chief patrons for this. Students and youth have been given prime importance for the development of this city- Madurodam. This is the reason Queen Beatrix when she was princess served as the first mayor of this city. Later many students of Hague have been elected as mayor. The youth city council of Madurodam has 25student members and they elect the mayor whose role is to take care of all activities of Madurodam.
Madurodam, the smallest city of Holland has largest collection of models of all types of structures and objects are made in 1:25 scale. It reflects the rich character of Dutch City and displays the most important and impressive examples of Dutch architecture. It can be called as a heritage city. There are about 1148 models in this miniature city comprising famous buildings from all over Holland. It includes both historical monuments as well as modern buildings.
All the scaled models are numbered and you can get the details of those buildings through the booklet supplied to you. The models, railway system, etc were done in Madurodam itself and some models have taken about 4 years to complete. The railway and tram system in this model city runs for a length of 4000m. Can you imagine that there are miniature model trains which even run over these tracks!! There are about 14 trains and trams running as miniature toy trains amusing children as well as elders.
The care taken for preparation of models of monuments is very interesting. Before commencing any model detailed photographs of the required buildings are taken and carefully studied. Then the model making process begins. The material used was wood in the initial days and as the days progressed, metals and synthetic materials are also used.
Enough care has been taken to landscape the whole city; the plants are carefully grown and trimmed to suit the scale. There are about 5000 miniature trees in and around the buildings, roads.
If any building exists, naturally it should have human figures, vehicles, vegetation etc to make it realistic and to get human scale. To achieve this there are as many as 13000 human figures in the form of pedestrians, spectators, inhabitants of the building etc. The roads in front of these buildings contain scaled models of the vehicle that is, cars, lorries, buses etc, which are 2389 in number. These roads also contain 50000 lighting fixtures/ system to make it more realistic and to give the true appearance of a city.
Everyone imagine Holland is nothing but a place full of canals and bridges. This imagination has been kept up and naturally one finds number of bridges, ships and canals. Some bridges also open up to give way for ships. Some huge modern vehicular bridges in reality have become pedestrian bridges when converted to miniature scale. There are 27 bridges and 58 ships precisely. These ships moving in canals amuse the visitors.
Madurodam also has an airport of its own which does not actually exist. There are 32 aeroplane models, which belong to different countries. The architecture of the airport building and the aeroplane models are worth watching.
The maintenance plays very important role here. At any given time at least 35 experts will be at work for new models or maintenance. Extreme care is taken for detailed imitation of building surrounding like roads, rail tracks, scenarios, cityscapes etc. If coin currencies are used the objects will move (there are 63 moving objects) and look more realistic.
This miniature model city also contains many other buildings of course not models. In the two modern restaurants with splendid view of the whole miniature city one can enjoy delicious food too. It also has two multi-functional halls with a capacity of 400 people that can be used for business meetings, symposiums, product release functions, social events etc. Lunch and dinner will be provided if the group participating in the event is large in number.
The gift shop (not model) contains very good collection of souvenirs and attractive gifts. Some collection of model making books helps to create a fantastic building model just by cutting and folding. Children can also enjoy with a memorable journey in the toy train.
It is a worth experience especially to architects as they get a glimpse of the Holland in one stretch and enjoy. The beautiful buildings, models, miniature gardens, miniature moving trains, ships etc remains in our memory forever. A slogan at Madurodam says " all of Holland in just one city" and we came out with unforgettable memories thinking, "when all of my country will be in one city".
