Amsterdam - Tuschinski (Art Déco Movie Theatre)

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We were just exploring Amsterdam, walking through the streets randomly, when suddenly a building caught my eye. Back in the hotel I looked it up in our guidebook and saw a picture of the inside. Then I read that the Tuschinski was still a movie theatre and we decided right away we had to visit it!

The next day we've bought the tickets saying "Hello, we would like to watch a movie in the big auditorium. It is quite irrelevant to us which movie".

I had to do a panorama of this, isn't it the most beautiful cinema you've ever seen?!

So we watched "The Dark Knight Rises" from the upper balcony (drink and snack of your choice included). I could not decide where to watch. The architecture or the movie?! It was really the best visit to a movie theatre I can think of! The movie was all right, the seats comfortable, the atmosphere enchanting, the "Grolsch" (dutch beer) delicious!

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"The interior and exterior are a spectacular mix of styles, as designed by Hijman Louis de Jong; Amsterdam School, Jugendstil, Art Nouveau and Art Déco. The main auditorium is considered as one of the most beautiful cinemas in the world. The building contains Asian influences while the lobby was designed in a way to offer theatergoers the feeling that they are stepping into an illusion."

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"The Tuschinski's main auditorium has served as both a movie theater and a live performance space since its opening. In addition to a film screen, it also contains a stage and an organ."

You can read the history of the Tuschinskie here. It's very interesting as well as a bit sad (during the German occupation...).

(Photo 1, 3 and 4 are not taken by me. My camara coud not take many decent photos because of the dimly lights. I linked the images back, so no harm intentend - quotes wikipedia - ah, and maybe someone noticed I use photobucket now. Well, my "blogger storage space" is full. To admit I did not even knew there was one... I hope Photobucket was a good choice :) ...)