The coffee-table book *Amsterdam* by photographer Cris Toala Olivares is a photographic portrait of one of the world’s most recognizable cities. This tribute, with a limited edition of 1,000 copies, presents the city from the air and the ground as a living archive.
The coffee-table book *Amsterdam* by the Ecuadorian-Dutch photographer Cris Toala Olivares is not just another photographic portrait of a city. It is the result of some fifteen years of returning to Amsterdam, photographing the city from the air and from the ground, and gradually discovering that a city can only truly be understood when its present is placed in dialogue with its past.
Only 1,000 copies of the book will be printed, making ‘Amsterdam’ not only a photo book about one of the world’s most recognizable cities, but also a limited-edition item created to preserve the visual memory of the city. The result is a book about Amsterdam as a living archive.
Cris Toala Olivares began photographing Amsterdam long before this book was published. Over the years, his vast visual archive evolved into something greater: an attempt to understand how Amsterdam has changed, while certain buildings, streets, canals, and human stories continue to endure. For this new edition, contemporary photography is juxtaposed with historical material from Amsterdam’s archives. Among these are photographs by Jacob Olie, whose nineteenth-century images offer a unique glimpse into a city that was already changing rapidly at the time.
Viewed from the air, Amsterdam reveals a different identity. The 17th-century canals, streets, waterways, architecture, and urban expansion become almost graphic compositions. At street level, the city regains its human scale. Together, these perspectives create a portrait that oscillates between monumentality and intimacy.
Specifications
Title: Amsterdam
Author: Cris Toala Olivares
Publisher: Chasqui
Dimensions: 255 x 350 x 40 mm
Size: 354 pages
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
ISBN: 9789083764108
Release Date: September 21, 2026
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