Amsterdam now has its own canon in the form of a Drupal based website, consisting of a collection of 50 portraits which shows Amsterdam's history of the last 700 years. The canon has to increase awareness of their history with the citizens of Amsterdam and establish a common interest in the multi cultural community which Amsterdam consists of.
The website was launched with loads of publicity from the media in presence of Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam. In the past months, a commission led by Pieter de Rooij has established the contents of the canon, for which he received a medal of honor from the mayor. The regional TV network AT5 will weekly illustrate one of the portraits with a 12 minute episode, which can be streamed from the website. The website which will serve as the main point of entry for the Canon and will allow people to interact. They can also sign up and create their own canon allowing them to express what Amsterdam means to them personally. The canon project was initiated by the city of Amsterdam in accordance with the mayor.