Willemstad, Then and Now
[Audio]Viewing the city as it was in 1885 and moving the slider to the present day, you can see the bold colors that have been in place since the early 19th century, but obviously don’t appear in early photographs, as well as how Willemstad’s downtown reflected all of these architectural styles together. There are Dutch styled buildings with classical and horizontal decorations, fanciful gables, and open galleries. Willemstad’s architecture thus represents the vibrant multicultural history of the island, reflecting in part its brutal history of colonization and slavery and also the cultural contributions of the city’s diverse elite settlers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Borders between these cultures were porous, as their mutual influences shaped the cityscape. UNESCO recognized Willemstad as a World Heritage City in 1997 for this coming together of cultures.
[Audio]However, these porous borders between cultures and styles are being challenged in the 20th and 21th centuries, as you can see by comparing the two city views. Selective historic preservation and new architecture harden the differences among the cultures represented by architectural style.
