The stand alone arches that @
Prince Arthur mostly posts about, are what in Dutch we call "poort", which I would translate to English not with "arch", but with "gate".
We have 3 of these arches (poorten) left that were part of the city defence (really?). I think they indicate a symbolic conquering of the world from/by Amsterdam. I only knew of 2 "poorten" like these left in Amsterdam.
The third one is from 1488 AD (or even earlier). We hardly have any buildings from before the 17th century left. It has been transformed unrecognisably, and precedes the foundation of freemasonry, now it's called the Waag, but originally it was the Sint Antoniespoort.
The Willemspoort that most people call the Haarlemmerpoort, was opened on 27 November 1840 by King Willem II, one day before his coronation.
With the twin pillars under the arch..
It faces west, which could indicate conquering Haarlem to the west.
I believe that facing west, really means expansion of the Dutch Empire further west over the seas (illustrated by the canal, water directly behind it), Britain and all the way to America. New York is of course really New Amsterdam, with Harlem (west of Amsterdam) and Wall Street, reminding of the origins of modern day banking, Amsterdam.
The Rijksmuseum was really designed as an arch towards the west, indicating that the Dutch state (rijk) owns Britain and America (using music, with the Concertgebouw west of it, as a weapon?)...
My interpretation of expansion over the seas west, seems to be confirmed by the Amsterdams Lyceum facing south, with on its southside the monument, behind the water/canal, illustrating the colonial conquest of Indonesia (south-east from Amsterdam) over the seas.
Today I was sitting on the bridge in front of the Amsterdams Lyceum...
On the other side of the bridge is the Olympiaplein with in front of it the controversial Monument Indië-Nederland (to celebrate hundreds of years of plundering the Dutch West Indies).
It was originally made in 1935 for the Governor-General of Nederlands-Indië and war criminal Johannes Benedictus van Heutsz (1851-1924), who as commander of the KNIL army had mass murdered "savage" Indonesians in Atjeh.
At this time it was still plundered as a Dutch colony. If I understand correctly some countries are actually ashamed of their colonial past, but not over here!
This is how it looked a long time ago, before WW II probably. Picture take from the roof of the Amsterdams Lyceum?
There is a statue of a woman flanked by 2 lions, with behind her the twin pillars, with the arched sun on top, with 13 rays.
Behind, below it are 6 arches on both sides of the twin pillars, making a total of 13 arches.
The other Amsterdam poort was finished in 1770 - facing south - the Muiderpoort.
See the top triangle, with the twin pillars, and lions flanking the coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam
https://archive.is/YbKQg
Similar to the construction of the Amsterdams Lyceum with over the bridge, on the other side of the water, the colonial monument to the south the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (royal institute for the tropics) that was finished in 1926 as the Koloniaal museum.
See the side entrance, directly facing the Muiderpoort to the south of Amsterdam. The tropics (Indonesia) is of course south (from the centre of the world, Amsterdam)...
See the arch on top of the door, with the twin towers. The building itself reminds me of the Rijksmuseum.