What began as a quiet hobby in a small Dutch village has taken center stage in one of the world’s busiest cities. Eduard van Dijk, a resident of Lepelstraat with a lifelong love of maps, architecture, and urban history, has brought 17th-century New Amsterdam to vivid, three-dimensional life. His intricate 3D model—crafted painstakingly over four years on his living room couch—now graces New York’s museums, public displays, and even caught the attention of Dutch royalty.

This isn’t just a story of art or architecture—it’s about how passion and curiosity can ripple across oceans. Inspired by a childhood fascination with cities like Paris, and later captivated by the energy of New York, Van Dijk set out to recreate the Dutch roots of the city as they once were. His model, based on the historic Castello Plan, has become not just a tribute to the past but a modern-day cultural bridge.