AA-2026-F15FA7
On the image
Someone in the Netherlands spent real money building a fake oil refinery at one-twenty-fifth scale, and in the 1960s that counted as a perfectly reasonable afternoon out. The Esso tanks are correct down to the logo, the rail spurs run to nowhere with total conviction, and a scale ocean liner sits docked in a canal three feet wide, all of it built by adults who understood that the Dutch talent for land reclamation and shipping deserved a monument you could view from a park bench.
Tiny figures wander the walkways at the same scale as the tanks, which is the whole point of Madurodam: it lets the ordinary tourist feel briefly like a benevolent giant surveying a nation's infrastructure without the inconvenience of actual infrastructure. The overhead vantage in this shot flattens the joke further, making the miniature refinery look almost plausible until you notice the shrubs behind it are real-sized trees doing double duty as a horizon.
It is model railroading crossed with civic pride, executed with the seriousness usually reserved for the genuine article, because nothing says national confidence like recreating your own oil terminal for entertainment.
Visually related — by likeness
Esso Tank Farm and Ocean Liner, Madurodam Miniature City, 1960s. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-F15FA7. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/esso-tank-farm-and-ocean-liner-madurodam-miniature-city-1960s.
@misc{aaAA2026F15FA7,
title = {Esso Tank Farm and Ocean Liner, Madurodam Miniature City, 1960s},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-F15FA7},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/esso-tank-farm-and-ocean-liner-madurodam-miniature-city-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Esso Tank Farm and Ocean Liner, Madurodam Miniature City, 1960s PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-F15FA7 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/esso-tank-farm-and-ocean-liner-madurodam-miniature-city-1960s ER -
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