News of: Thursday, July 20 2006,
The city of Amsterdam has taken steps to get the famous 17th century canal belt on the Unesco World Heritage List.
The canal belt is the concentric ring of canals was built from the year 1600 onward (the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht).
The canals, together with the canal houses along them, already are a national protected monument and one of the most important attractions in Amsterdam. This year, the Amsterdam canal boat tours are the second most popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands (after the amusement park 'De Efteling' in the south of the country).
With the placement on the Unesco list the city hopes to promote tourism to Amsterdam. If all goes well, the canal belt may be included on the list in 2009.
A list of other Dutch entries on the list can be found here.
