Huldebetoon aan Wilhelmina, daags voor haar inhuldiging als koningin, bij het Paleis op de Dam, Amsterdam Possibly 1898

Sigmund Löw captured this photograph of the Palace on the Dam in Amsterdam, teeming with people on the eve of Wilhelmina’s inauguration as queen. The palace, the church, and the crowd gathered together are not just buildings or people, but symbols deeply rooted in cultural memory. Here, the throng becomes a singular entity, a collective unconscious expressing both loyalty and a sense of shared national identity. The royal palace itself evokes ideas of power, stability, and historical continuity. We might compare the queen to ancient depictions of rulers. Consider the many images of emperors through time. Or even further back, to ancient gods. The way a leader is visually represented taps into our collective memory. The photograph does not merely document an event; it encapsulates a collective yearning for stability and continuity. In it, Löw immortalized a moment of shared anticipation. A moment of shared cultural identity.