Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [37]
The Grachtengordel |
This section covers the first four canals of the Grachtengordel – the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht – as they sweep down from Brouwersgracht to the Amstel. For the purposes of this guide, the district has been split into two: Grachtengordel west and Grachtengordel south – divided at roughly the halfway point, Leidsegracht. There’s no obvious walking route around the area – indeed you may prefer to wander around as the mood takes you – but the description given below goes from north to south, taking in all the highlights on the way. On all three of the main canals, street numbers begin at Brouwersgracht and increase as you go south.
The Grachtengordel |
Expanding the city
The three main Grachtengordel canals – Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht – were dug in the seventeenth century as part of a comprehensive plan to extend the boundaries of a city no longer able to accommodate its burgeoning population. The idea was that the council would buy up the land around the city, dig the canals, and lease plots back to developers, thus increasing the size of the city from two to seven square kilometres. The plan was passed by the city council in 1607 and work began six years later, against a backdrop of corruption, with Amsterdammers in the know buying up the land they thought the city would soon have to purchase.
It was a monumental task, and the conditions imposed by the council were strict. The three main waterways were set aside for the residences and businesses of the richer and more influential Amsterdam merchants, while the radial cross-streets were reserved for more modest artisans’ homes; meanwhile, newly arrived immigrants set to cash in on Amsterdam’s booming economy were assigned, albeit informally, to the Jodenhoek – “Jews’ Corner” – (see "The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands") and the Jordaan.
In the Grachtengordel, everyone – even the wealthiest merchant – had to comply with a set of strict and detailed planning regulations. In particular, the council prescribed the size of each building plot – the frontage was set at thirty feet, the depth two hundred – and although there was a degree of tinkering, the end result was the loose conformity you can see today: tall, narrow residences, whose individualism is mainly restricted to the stylistic permutations among the gables. Even the colour of the front doors was once regulated, with choice restricted to a shade that has since become known as “Amsterdam Green” – still something of a rarity outside Holland. It took decades to complete the project, but by the 1690s it was all pretty much finished off – at a time, ironically, when Amsterdam was in economic decline.
In essence, the Grachtengordel is a tribute to the architectural tastes of the city’s middle class, an amalgam of personal wealth and aesthetic uniformity – individuality and order – that epitomized Amsterdam’s Protestant bourgeoisie in its pomp.
The Grachtengordel |
Grachtengordel west
Stretching south from the Brouwersgracht to the Leidsegracht, Grachtengordel west boasts a fine selection of seventeenth-century canal houses. These are at their prettiest along Herengracht between Wolvenstraat and Leidsegracht, and this is where you’ll also find the Bijbels Museum (Bible Museum), home to an odd assortment of models of ancient Jewish temples. Nevertheless, easily the most popular attraction here is the Anne Frank Huis, on Prinsengracht, which is itself just a short stroll from the soaring architecture of the Westerkerk.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel west |
Brouwersgracht to Prinsenstraat
Running east to west along the northern edge of the three