Felix Meritis

Felix Meritis is the name of an intellectual society in Amsterdam, but subsequently used for the building they built for themselves on the Keizersgracht.It was built according to a winning design by the architect Jacob Otten Husly for the new society called Felix Meritis established in 1776 for Music, Drawing, Physics, Commerce and Literature in the modern neo-classical style. Husly had won a similar design contest for the city hall of Groningen in the previous year. The building itself was meant to exemplify the Enlightenment ideals the society stood for. The classical temple façade with its colossal Corinthian pilasters and pediment represent the society's five departments with five sculptures representing the visual arts and architecture, literature, trade, natural sciences and music. The interior includes original 18th-century features such as the central staircase, the oval concert hall and the domed roof - underneath which there used to be an astronomical observatory.

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