Secret railway chambers and mysterious tunnels open for weekend

Deep in the bowels of a building, past the heavy door of the bank vault, is a secret tunnel under the Keizersgracht. It was not used for secret money transfer, apparently, but for high-ranking bank officials to go from the prestige office on the Keizersgracht for client meetings, back to the Vijzelstraat bank. On Saturday morning a queue stretched around the corner of what is now the city archive to see this mysterious Poentunnel – blocked off 17 years ago and now open for Open Monumentendag weekend. “Money tunnel, cash underpass, Keizers snip – the pedestrian tunnel dug between two old bank buildings on the Vijzelstraat has many nicknames,” said Amsterdam municipality in a press release. It was primarily bank directors who went discreetly through the tunnel from the car park under the Vijzelbank to the directors’ rooms in De Bazel…dry, when it was bucketing rain outside.” Around the Netherlands, sites from the royal waiting room at The Hague Hollands Spoor station to an underground cinema in Amsterdam are open free of charge on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September.