Amsterdam is a city of water and, naturally, of bridges. Amsterdam has no fewer than 1,281 bridges. Since the 17th century a maze of canals has divided downtown Amsterdam in 90 islands. There are hundreds of bridges which link the islands. The canals have made Amsterdam famous. It is quite apparent that the city has more canals than Venice and more bridges than Paris. Generally quite a few of the downtown bridges are romantically illuminated at night.