Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [38]
Across the canal lies the Hofje Van Brienen (Mon–Fri 6am–6pm & Sat 6am–2pm; free), a brown-brick courtyard complex at Prinsengracht 85–133. Originally the site of a brewery, the hofje was built as an almshouse in 1804 to the order of a certain Arnout van Brienen, who added a matching brick church (no entry) for good measure. A well-to-do merchant, van Brienen had locked himself in his own strongroom by accident and, in a panic, he vowed that if he were rescued he would build a hofje – he was and he did.
South of the Hofje Van Brienen is the first of the Grachtengordel’s cross-streets, Prinsenstraat and its continuation Herenstraat, where the modest old tradesmen’s houses now accommodate a string of knick-knack and clothes shops. Here you’ll find a potpourri of handmade Latin American items at Santa Jet, Prinsenstraat 7, and designer clothes at Margriet Nannings, Prinsenstraat 6, 8 and 15.
Herenstraat opens out into the Blauwburgwal, a short and inordinately pretty slip of a canal, which had the misfortune to be hit by a bomb during the German invasion of 1940. The bomber in question had been damaged by anti-aircraft fire and dropped its load at random. This was very much a one-off: the speed of the German victory meant that central Amsterdam was hardly damaged at all, though this incident alone cost 44 lives.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel west |
The Multatuli Museum
Amsterdam’s tiniest museum, the Multatuli Museum, is just off the Herengracht at Korsjespoortsteeg 20 (Tues 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun noon–5pm; free; www.multatuli-museum.nl). This was the birthplace of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–87), Holland’s most celebrated nineteenth-century writer and a champion of free thinking, who wrote under the pen name Multatuli. Dekker worked as a colonial official in the Dutch East Indies for eighteen years, becoming increasingly disgusted by the graft and corruption. He returned to Amsterdam in 1856 and spent the next four years encapsulating his East Indies experiences in the elegantly written satirical novel Max Havelaar, which enraged the Dutch merchant class, but is now something of a Dutch literary classic . The museum’s one room is filled with letters, first editions and a small selection of his furnishings, including the chaise longue on which he breathed his last.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel west |
The Singel and Leliegracht
Singel 104–106 are twin mansions dating to the 1740s, equipped with the largest bell gables in the city – big but not especially attractive. Further south is the red-brick and stone-trimmed De Dolfijn (The Dolphin), at nos. 140–142. This was once home of Captain Banningh Cocq, one of the militiamen depicted in Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, but it takes its name from a late sixteenth-century Dutch grammar book written by the first owner, one Hendrick Spieghel. Nearby, Singel 166 has the narrowest facade in the city – just 1.8m wide. It overlooks the Torensluis, easily the widest bridge in the Grachtengordel and decorated with a whopping bust of Multatuli.
Just by the Torensluis is Oude Leliestraat, leading to Leliegracht, one of the tiny radial canals that cut across the Grachtengordel. It’s a charming street, home to a number of bookshops and bars, and it also holds one of the city’s finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture – the tall and striking building at the Leliegracht-Keizersgracht junction.