The last time I flew (thanks COVID-19) was in February when Lucas and I took a Father-Son Trip to the Netherlands.
Before heading off on our trip, I read about a bizarre national monument that I hoped to check out and possibly even use, if necessary. I read about Amsterdam’s City Hall Urinal on Atlas Obscura.
We didn’t make it a top priority of sites to seek out during our trip but I did pin it on my map, just in case we were close by.
On our last we took a day trip from Amsterdam to visit a nearby city. When we got back, we decided to wander around and try out some tasty local foods.
Soon after, it started raining. As we walked the rain started picking up and got pretty bad at times.
For our final stop, we were looked for a pizza shop that was recommended to me. Stupidly, I decided it was better to walk rather than take an Uber. When I mapped the shop, it didn’t look like it was far away.
Along the way, I saw that we’d be passing the City Hall Urinal. (According to Atlas Obscura, the urinal was built for employees of a building which used to be a new wing of City Hall.)
The timing couldn’t be better. Lucas wanted to relieve himself and the urinal looked like a decent structure to use to get out of the rain briefly
Besides a bit of graffiti, the City Hall Urinal was somewhat interesting. The lower portion was made of cement or stone, the upper third, made of brick. Above the entrance sits a statue of a man with his arm raised in the air.
The use of bricks was a smart idea. The smell inside was pretty bad, the bricks allowed a bit of fresh air to come inside!
So why is Amsterdam’s City Hall Urinal a National Monument?
Atlas Obscura didn’t answer that question but after some looking around, I found some more info on a site called amsterdam.info under a section called , The oldest canals in Amsterdam- Red Light District. On the link above, scroll down to #29 and it explains why.
Long story short, the urinal was designed in the Amsterdam school architecture style as the new wing of city hall. It was also decorated with sculptures by Hildo Krop. Due to the design and sculptures it gained the status as a national monument.
Can you say that you took a leak inside a national monument? Lucas can!
