Silly World – Amsterdam – Blauw Jan

While wandering the winding streets (and canals) of Amsterdam I happened across this silly site one day. I really didn’t know anything about it and didn’t remember hearing anything about it in any of my guidebooks. But it was a silly site indeed: a grassy knoll covered in seemingly life-size statues of lizards.



Turns out that this site is Blauw Jan by sculptor Hans van Houwelingen, named so after Blaauw Jan Westerhof, a 17th century pub owner who had a small private zoo. Erected in 1994, some 40 lizards (monitors, agames and iguanas) dot the grass in Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen, close to the Leidseplein, in the city center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Site: Blauw Jan — 40 Lizard Statues
Location: Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen, close to the Leidseplein, in the city center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Cost: Free to see.
Hours: Always Visible.
Date: May 10, 2008