Madurodam is a miniature park and tourist attraction in the Scheveningen district of The Hague in the Netherlands. It is home to a range of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical cities and large developments. The park was opened in 1952 and has since been visited by tens of millions of visitors. The entirety of net proceeds from the park go towards various charities in the Netherlands. In 2012, Madurodam celebrated its 60th anniversary.

Name

Madurodam was named after George Maduro, a Dutch law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces, first as a lieutenant in the army and later as a member of the Dutch resistance, and who died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. In 1946, Maduro was posthumously awarded the Medal of Knight Fourth class of the Military Order of William, the highest and oldest military decoration in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the valor he had demonstrated in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops.

The park

Modelling

Every object in Madurodam has been built at a scale of 1:25. When the management decides that a specific miniature is to be made for Madurodam, the builders first research all aspects of the actual building. They research the shape, color and all other properties of that object, by analysing many pictures. After this they start making the models. A computer measures everything and sends all information to a machine that makes the physical model. The model goes to the painting room, where it gets the final look. In this painting room restorations also take place. Because most of the miniatures are outdoors, they need regular paint retouches.

Realism

Madurodam strives to show a realistic view of The Netherlands in a scaled-down environment. Everything, including flora and street decoration, is modeled to scale. Producing scaled-down trees is time-consuming. Also there are a lot of little people around the buildings. This shows the real life of the Dutch people. These “residents” also change with the weather. In the winter they wear jackets and warm clothes and in the summer they wear T-shirts. The “residents” of Madurodam have become more and more multicultural, and include some who appear to have come from other countries (immigrants), reflecting real life in The Netherlands.

Fantasitron

Fantasitron is a 3D selfie photo booth where patrons can have 3D models of themselves created by software from pictures taken in the photo booth. A third party printer company such as Shapeways prints and ships manufactured models to patrons.