It had been 88 years since Amsterdam staged a major senior athletics event - but it was worth the wait.
Over five days at the Olympic Stadium, 44 gold medals were decided but there was no question about the real winner of these 23rd European Athletics Championships - that track and field itself.
Packed stands, a brilliant atmosphere, the deliverance of a home heroine in Dafne Schippers, a first ever European Half marathon, a series of record breakers and a race on the final afternoon in the men's 5000m that defied belief as the top three could not be separated after almost 14 minutes of running.
Where to begin? Where else but with Schippers, the Netherlands' sprinter supreme.
At the opening ceremony in front of the King Willem-Alexander last Tuesday, European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen spoke about how he could not wait for the Friday night of the championships when Schippers was defending her 100m title.
Along with a full stadium, millions watching across Europe on television, the President was not disappointed as Schippers soared to gold in 10.90. Less than 48 hours later, she was celebrating again when she ran the second leg of the 4x100m relay on Sunday, putting in a storming sprint down the back straight, receiving the baton from Jamile Samuel and handing it on to Tessa van Schagen, before Naomi Sedney brought the Dutch home to gold in 42.04, a national record.
How about that for a finale!
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On all five days there were fabulous stories, but one of the great themes which carried thoughout the championships was the ability of gold medallists to keep hold of their crowns.
Schippers was joined on that successful roll call by Martyn Rooney (400m), Adam Kszczot (800m), Great Britain's 4x100m relay men, Greg Rutherford (long jump), David Storl (shot put), Libania Grenot (400m), Ruth Beitia (high jump), Christina Schwanitz (shot put), Sandra Perkovic (discus) and Anita Wlodarczyk (hammer).
It was an historic event for German Storl, becoming the first man to land three European shot put titles having been one of five to win it twice, as Perkovic, of Croatia, made it four in a row, and Poland's world record-holder Wlodarczyk achieved a third successive European gold too.
And, at the age of 37, Spain's Beitia completed a remarkable high jump hat-trick, a woman who just rises to the occasion when it comes to the championship. What a star performer she is.
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The men's pole vault looked a banker for Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie as he chased his fourth successive European crown, but amazingly he no-heighted this time, entering the competition at 5.75m and knocking the bar down three times. Gold went to Poland's Robert Sobera, who was left looking both elated and disbelieving.
In the long jump, Serbia's Ivana Spanovic won her first major outdoor gold medal, to go with her European indoor gold, and Türkiye's Yasemin Can produced a notable and brilliant double by winning the 10,000m on the opening night and then adding the 5000m title on Saturday evening.
The final afternoon started historically because in the 400m hurdles, Sara Scott Petersen became the first Danish woman to win gold at the European Athletics Championships and then Luiza Gega's second in the 3000m steeplechase was Albania's first ever European medal.
Indeed it was a championships of firsts, with Poland ending top of the medal table for the first time with six golds - three of them on the final day from Kszczot, Pawel Fajdek (hammer) and Angelika Cichocka (1500m) to add to the earlier glory of Sobera, Piotr Malachowski (discus) and Wlodarczyk.
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That last morning had begun with two magnificent half marathons, and the inaugural champions in Switzerland's Tadesse Abraham and Portugal's Sara Moreira, races starting and finishing by the breath-taking setting of the Rijksmuseum and then in the early evening on the track, the remarkable men's 5000m which saw a blanket finish with the top three all being given the same time of 13:40.85.
No-one could ever remember that happening in a major championship race of this standard, as Spain's Ilias Fifa won gold from teammate Adel Mechaal and Germany's Richard Ringer.
Fifa won by 3000ths of a second with their respective times being 13:40.844, 13:40.847 and 13:30.850.
The fourth man in the photo was Norway's Henrik Ingrebrigtsen (13:40.857), who the night before finished third in the 1500m as his younger brother Filip came through for gold.
Along with Schippers and their relay women, the host nation made the top of the podium on two more occasions. Churandy Martina won the 100m by the narrowest of margins, and Anouk Vetter triumphed in the heptathlon, with her 6626 points breaking Schippers' national record.
But these championships will long be remembered for the spirit of what sport means to athletes and fans.
You can watch over and over again the moment Spain's Bruno Hortelano was told in a television interview that he had won 200m gold because Martina had been disqualified. His face, his smile, his speed at running off to find his coaches. It is glorious.
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Yet nothing beats the uplifting gold of Belgium decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen, a champion after battling back from cancer.
The European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam were played out to the slogan 'Athletics Like Never Before'.
And when we reflect on what we have seen, those words ring out loud and true.
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