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Statue of Samuel Sarphati - Sarphati Park

Sarphatipark

Samuel Sarphati (1813-1866) was a Sephardi Jew, a gifted and socially active doctor who contributed greatly to the general improvement of the city of Amsterdam.

He initiated various projects of a very different nature including the collection of garbage (stage one in municipal sanitation) and setting up modern bread factories. He was also behind large-scale urban construction projects such as building the People's Industrial Palace on today's Frederiksplein (built of glass, it burned down in 1929).

Sarphati envisaged a magnificent improvement for this neighbourhood, including building the Amstel Hotel, as well as housing for the middle- and working-class, and laying out the Sarphati Park. His plans were only partly implemented. Sarphati dreamed of an Amstel Hotel (designed by Cornelis Outshoorn, like the People's Industrial Palace) twice the size of what it eventually became. The Sarphati Park wasn't completed until 1885. One year later, the monument to Sarphati was unveiled.