Almost 150 years ago, life in the big city was not very good. Most of the houses were small and in very bad shape, the water was polluted, and poor people did not have enough food to eat. Sarphati who worked as a general practitioner heard all the complaints of his patients and decided that something had to change. He bought up all the flour he could find and started baking in a modern built factory. He made thousands of loaves of bread, which were not only cheaper for the poor in the city, but also a lot healthier. And as a result, the people in Amsterdam lived a lot longer. Sarphati became famous. But not that famous, that he deserved a park. He himself developed that.
The streets in the area De Pijp are very narrow, with houses built on top of each other. That too, Sarphati didn’t like. He therefore bought a strip of land in the middle of the neighbourhood, where people could get fresh air after a long day of work. That became Sarphati Park. In the middle of the greenery, on the pond, you will now find a stately statue of the famous baker. The park may not be the largest in Amsterdam, but it is very popular among parents with children from the neighbourhood and perhaps one of the most beautiful places in Amsterdam.
