Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam was the main venue of the 1928 Summer Olympics, set in the Stadionbuurt district in the south of the city. It was designed by Dutch architect Jan Wils, a member of the De Stijl movement; his Marathon Tower with the cauldron, which held the first continuously burning Olympic flame, is an icon of modern stadium design and protected as a Rijksmonument. The complex was extended with a second stand in the 1930s and largely restored to its original form from 1996. It now hosts athletics meets, concerts and large-scale running events including the start of the Amsterdam Marathon. Visitors can climb the Marathon Tower on guided tours and view the cauldron up close.