Photos Of The Day: Reclaiming Amsterdam’s Stunning Central Station Underpass

The newly revamped tunnel at the Amsterdam Central Station (known as the Cuyperpassage) is a stunning example of executing both a practical note in an urban infrastructure project.

Commissioned, in part, by the municipality of Amsterdam, this reclaimed underpass now doubles as a covered pedestrian and bike path.

(Image credit: Jannes Linders)

This 361-foot-long and 33-foot-wide “slow traffic corridor” creates a natural divide between cyclists and pedestrians.

(Image credit: Jannes Linders)

But the most stunning detail, by far, is the almost 80,000 hand-painted tiles that were manufactured specifically for this project to mimic the famous painting “Warship Rotterdamn and the Herring fleet” by Cornelis Boumeester.

(Image credit: Jannes Linders)

Additionally, Slate reports that a ceramic company “spent more than five years making 46,000 wall tiles for the tableau and an additional 33,000 floor tiles.”