Amsterdam Olympic Stadium was built for the 1928 Summer Olympics in the city’s Stadionbuurt district according to plans drawn up by Dutch architect Jan Wils. The building is now listed and architecturally belongs to the “Amsterdam School” – the famous Dutch style of classical modernism, also known as “Brick Expressionism”. A slender tower, upon which the Olympic flame was lit for the first time, marks the main entrance and is now, as then, a symbol of the stadium.
After years of intensive use after the Olympics, in the 1990s the stadium fell into disrepair, until it was extensively renovated from 1996 onwards. The stadium has now been largely restored to its original condition, including the grandstand expansion of 1937. Today, numerous sports and cultural events take place here, and it will be the venue for the 2016 European Athletics Championships. In July 2015, in advance of this large and important sporting festival, the Olympic Stadium was awarded an “IAAF Class 1” certificate with the Polytan PUR surface in traditional brick-red.
