The red shield on the wall says that Heinrich Schliemann - the famous 19th century archeologist who claimed to have discovered the ruins of ancient Troy - lived in this house on the distinguished Amsterdam Keizergracht for a while.

Except for "Troy" I knew nothing about Schliemann's life. So I googled him, and found this wonderful biography . I'd love to share the part about Schliemann's life in Amsterdam with you.

It's an english translation of a russian story. I like it because of all the romantic details of this truly "from rags to riches" lifestory, and the way Schliemann keeps chasing his dreams, regardless of the circumstances. Then there's this charming oldfashioned all-knowing storyteller, and last but not least his great russian accent.

" Schliemann worked messenger gets pennies and spend them on textbooks. His room is still no stove, Schliemann fed stale bread, do not buy clothes - but he walks around the city with English grammar in the hands."

The story starts with young Heinrich's shipwreck on the coast of Holland and his arrival in Amsterdam - where "alms are served poorly" - with nothing more than a blanket and the soaked pair of trousers he is wearing, and ends with Schliemann leaving for St. Peterburg as a partner in a merchant business, about to become a millionaire.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

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" 28 November 1841 off the coast of Holland shipwrecked brig "Dorothea", which went to Venezuela with a cargo of Rhine wine.

Dead of night, the moon, were fighting their way through the overcast sky, rain and snow, severe storm: long wave threw the ship, and then one of them was hit by wheel. There was a crack, brig shuddered, stopped, and the passengers spilled out into the careening deck - the launching of the boat, the sailors have struggled.

Cuddy cabin boy hesitated, - when he got up, the waves have afflicted the deck and the boat was not visible. Young jumped overboard, the water threw him like a huge swing, poured into his mouth and nose, flooded the eyes - he knew that he was dying, but behind him there was the sound of oars, and leaning over the side of the sailor grabbed the guy's hair.

On the Dutch coast Heinrich Schliemann went half-naked: it was only an old blanket and torn, thoroughly soaked pants.

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His companions have lost everything, but he has, and so there was nothing, but traveled to the bottom of the Baltic Sea pants, jackets inferior but accidentally received letter of recommendation to the owner of the Venezuelan trade house.

Mother he lost as a child, married a servant girl's father has appropriated his inheritance. Relatives did not want to do with him, education and profession he had no. Now, half-naked and chilled, he found himself in Holland - was shestigradusny frost, alms in Amsterdam served poorly.

Narrow, like a pencil box room - no stove, no table, no chairs, only a broken bed so washstand with frozen water. Schliemann took her to the money that was sent to collect declared in favor of victims of shipwreck countrymen.

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In the evening he went up to his shattered the creaking stairs, flung shoes, threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes - aching legs, pricked in his temples, in front of his eyes floated past.

(...)

Where he was born and raised Heinrich Schliemann, nothing ever happened. (...) On weekdays the parishioners ate potato soup and herring with apples and slaughtered a pig for Christmas - they are hard savings, diligently prayed and nothing dreamed.

(...)

Heinrich Schliemann was not needed nor father, nor his new wife - and it got rid of by hand, sending into the service of a merchant in the small town of Furstenberg. There he spent five years and has mastered the subtleties of the craft steward: Now the young man knew how to use Bezmenov, could prepack sugar, wrap the fish and smiling customers.

When he was eighteen, he went for a better share - across the Atlantic Ocean to the distant Venezuela. Lord thought otherwise. Now Heinrich Schliemann felt that his life will be over in Amsterdam and this winter he will not survive.

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The young man tried to enlist as soldiers. The doctor, dressed in the form of Dutch colonial troops, listened and tapped his chest, saying that the consumptive military service do not take. Schliemann began to explain melancholy sucking long tubes Dutch officers, that in Amsterdam, its consumption was.

He was sick at home - a year ago, when he managed to move to Hamburg,(..). for copper pennies to learn accounting and settle in good company. He poured throat blood in the director's office - and the career clerk in the trading house was broken, before it started. And now he is quite well: after a shipwreck and swim in the icy water of cough and hemoptysis disappeared without a trace ...

The Dutch took out of their mouths tube, looked at each other and frowned. Major Henry offered a cup of hot tea, the captain handed him a guilder, the servant to the door. Thus ended the day.

Henry fell asleep remembering the person wearing the blue uniform of officers and, as always, kept repeating to himself the Homeric line (...)

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Adulthood, Heinrich Schliemann began to consider themselves the elect of Fortune. And through her smile, he led from that dank, soaked in a hopeless longing of Amsterdam in the evening: candle flickered and went out, sailed the endless agonizing yesterday, disappeared heroes of the Iliad - and here he was awakened by a knock at the door.

The hostess brought the letter and postal order form - a man many years ago to propose to his late mother, sent him dozens of guilders and recommendatory note in one of Amsterdam's firm. A day Heinrich Schliemann resounded through correspondence Amsterdam trading house Quin - fate gave him a chance, and he had to use it.

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Schliemann worked messenger gets pennies and spend them on textbooks. His room is still no stove, Schliemann fed stale bread, do not buy clothes - but he walks around the city with English grammar in the hands.

On the run, torn between the houses of customers, warehouses and port, he taught foreign languages - a clumsy young man from a provincial Ankershagena found an excellent memory and linguistic abilities are phenomenal. He was memorizing whole pages of phrasebooks, at night, reciting passages from the novels of Walter Scott and Moliere's play - at the same language he had spent six weeks.

Less than a year Schliemann masters in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Spanish.

Business owners, who took him out of mercy, does not really matter: the messenger must fly through the streets, and not to wander, her nose buried in a book - and Henry fired. But a week later he was already working with their competitors, and messenger, and the clerk: Gentlemen Schroeder can understand people and know that it speaks six languages employee may be treasure.

Schliemann spent whole days in port, and the evening raised in his closet (there appeared an iron stove - but it is no innovation there) and begins to grind. He already knows about fifteen languages and is now trying to learn Russian - his new owners are a big trade with St. Petersburg.

Language of the Great Northern Empire in the Netherlands nobody knows, and Schliemann sure that he will need it very soon.

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He struggled for survival and can not afford unnecessary emotions: a minimum of expenditure and unnecessary actions, all thought over and appropriate.

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A childhood dream of Troy gradually turned into a passion of an adult - he is constantly re-read Homer and the heroes of the Iliad were to him far more real than the owners of firms, commission agents, ship brokers and sales agents.

During the day he survived the evening picked up Homer and begin to live - so the years passed, which Heinrich Schliemann spent in the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

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Meanwhile, his position in the company becoming stronger, and finally came to him a real success. Russian language was still rescued: Schroeder company needed a representative in Russia, and Schliemann traveled to St. Petersburg - from the clerk, he became a partner.

There, his tenacity, acumen, agile mind and acquired business experience serve him well - Heinrich Schliemann became a millionaire in just a few years."

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Quoted from: persona.rin.ru/eng/view/f/0/18345/heinrich-schliemann and if you wish you can of course read the rest of Schliemann's life story there.

This is an image of rijksmonument number 2231 Information from structured data: location of creation: Amsterdam→North Holland→Netherlands depicts instance of: Keizersgracht 71, Amsterdam→house→building type→classification scheme→variable-order class