Amsterdam - Life along Canals

The canal belt of Amsterdam combines history and the present. Along the canal, the film plunges into the heyday of Amsterdam in the 17th century and shows how the sophisticated system of dignity continues to shape life in the port city until today. The Arte-Doku looks into gabled houses, meets one of the last bridge guards, is on the way with the floating post office and a flying canal merchant, shows alternative forms of life and work in houseboats and on former shipyard grounds.
 
The film portrays Amsterdam as a city built by globally active merchants. Tolerance still shapes Amsterdam today, as a modern European metropolis. Identifying the 850,000 inhabitants of Amsterdam is the canal system that was built by merchants from the beginning of the 17th century, above all to transport their goods to and from the merchants and warehouses. Since the 17th century, the "Golden Age of Amsterdam", the city opens up from the water. And from the canals, the documentation reveals a city that lives with the water.
 
The main canals connect with 160 transversal towers to form a sewer network that is 75km long and twice as long as the canals of Venice. Since 2010, the Canal Belt is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts 18 million tourists every year. Along the waterways are the major shopping streets, many museums, the university and of course the old houses of the merchants and bankers with their magnificent gables. Festivals are celebrated on and along the canals, the Amsterdamers spend their lunch break by the water and most of all they live along the canals or on them, in the houseboat. Still in the 1960s, the channels were heavily polluted, meanwhile, in some you can swimming again.