Why go
The shared scale makes buildings and larger developments easier to compare than they would be across the country. Model-making depends on studying the original structures' shapes and colours, turning the park into an exercise in architectural detail. Its name also connects the miniature city to George Maduro's wartime life.
The full story
George Maduro was a Jewish law student from Curaçao who fought the German invasion and later joined the resistance. He died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. His parents helped fund Madurodam as a memorial to their son. The project also had a charitable purpose. B. Boon-van der Starp sought support for a sanatorium where students with tuberculosis could receive treatment while continuing their studies. She drew inspiration from Bekonscot, an English miniature park that contributed to a hospital. Architect S. J. Bouma visited that park while developing the Dutch project. Madurodam opened in 1952. Its apparently playful form therefore carries two connected histories: remembrance of a young man killed during the war and fundraising for young people's welfare. Knowing those origins gives the model city a human context beyond the technical skill needed to reproduce buildings at reduced scale.