Look at the windows!!!!!!!

The political aftershocks of the collapse of Cologne's historical archive one month ago (The six-story archive building collapsed on 3 March 2009, along with two neighboring apartment buildings.) could be felt as far away as Amsterdam, where a similar metro line is being built. The city is having trouble with budget overruns and subsiding buildings near the stations.



It could have been worse, said the families and institutions that call the picturesque 17th-century weavers' houses on the Vijzelgracht in Amsterdam home when they saw the devastation in Cologne on March 3. On that day, the building that houses the historical archive in the German city disappeared into a 30-meter deep hole. The collapse left two people dead and much of the archive's irreplaceable collection destroyed.



At least no one was injured when the historical houses on Amsterdam's Vijzelgracht subsided last summer, and all their belongings are safely in storage. But it will be years, if ever, before they can safely return to their homes.