Rokin

The station lies beneath the Rokin, originally a stretch of the river Amstel. The name derives from the Dutch 'inrukken', to pull back (first spelt Ruck-in): in the 16th century houses along the Amstel had to be shortened to make room for quays.

A museum on the bed of the Amstel

For centuries the Rokin was simply part of the Amstel. In 1936 the stretch between Spui and Dam was filled in, and beneath it now lies a metro station 21.5 metres deep. There are no fixed stairs: the only way down is by escalator or lift, and according to Dutch broadcaster NOS you can spend about two and a half minutes on the escalator before reaching the platform. Above the station are a car park for 250 cars and a bike store for 300 bicycles.

During construction of the North/South Line, the building pits on the Damrak and the Rokin turned out to be an archaeological goldmine. Over fifteen years archaeologists recovered some 700,000 objects along the route: pipes tossed overboard from ships, jugs from the sugar trade and even a crocodile jaw. The Below the Surface project put the finds online.

Around 10,000 objects are on permanent display in two long showcases between the escalators. On the track walls, the British-French duo Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel created huge mosaics of ceramics, coloured glass and stone, based on the finds and featuring, among other things, a crocodile. At the opening in July 2018, Rokin drew more reactions from visitors than any other station.