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Bothered about Billboards

Amsterdam Endangers UNESCO World Heritage Bid

By Kester Freriks

Getting onto UNESCO's list of world heritage sites can be tricky. Amsterdam has jeopardized the future of its historic inner city by erecting advertising billboards in front of construction work. Often there isn't even any construction going on behind them, critics say.

Huge billboards in Amsterdam's historic inner city have endangered the Dutch metropolis' bid for world heritage site status. UNESCO advisers say they were "shocked" by outsized video installations and billboards for the likes of Bacardi Breezer drinks, Diesel fashion or the Playstation game Killzone.

Their criticism has been added to Amsterdam's UNESCO nomination file. Rudolf Rijpma, a local preservationist, said it was, "incomprehensible that prestigious international recognition of Amsterdam's cultural heritage is allowed to be jeopardized by advertising that isn't even making a lot of money for the city."

The billboards are supposed to cover up renovation workbeing done on historic buildings, taking the place of safety netting over scaffolding.

Els Iping, chairperson of Amsterdam's central borough and a member of the left-leaning Labor Party, says that the façade advertising provides the city with much-needed revenue. But local preservationist Walther Schoonenberg disputes this. "The borough initially predicted €1.5 million in revenue from facade advertising," he argued. "That's neither here nor there. It is the owners of the houses and the advertising company, Mega Media, that are making all the money. The borough has (made) €200,000 at most. That's not even enough to renovate one historic building."

Iping admitted that the revenue "has been less than expected." But she also said she preferred the billboards to the usual fabric used to cover up building work. "I find them beautiful and tasteful. They give the inner city cachet," she said.

Borough council member Marnix Bruggeman, a member of the Socialist Party, said that in many cases, no building activity was taking place behind the billboards. "Our own investigation has shown that advertising companies sign contracts with the owners of buildings deemed fit for advertising purposes," Bruggeman said. Iping denied this, explaining that inspectors closely monitor any building activity in the inner city.

As it is, Amsterdam's bid for UNESCO world heritage status is already at risk. It lacks broad support and, in fact, Dutch Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk of the Labor Party already postponed the UNESCO bid once because of the criticism by local preservationists. UNESCO itself has demanded that opponents and supporters of the bid come to an agreement.

The United Nation's body has strict rules about world heritage sites and how they are preserved. Recently the German city of Dresden lost its place on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites because of a new bridge being built across the Elbe valley, despite UNESCO objections.