De Wallen Historic Canals

The Oude Kerk is recognizable by its massive, dark silhouette rising above the surrounding narrow buildings, topped by a tall bell tower completed in fifteen sixty-five. As the oldest building in Amsterdam, its history began around twelve…

From the outside, this building appears to be nothing more than a standard seventeenth-century canal house, indistinguishable from the other homes lining the waterway. Its true nature remains hidden until you move through the narrow, dark…

The Schreierstoren, or Weepers Tower, is the last remaining defense tower of Amsterdam’s medieval city wall, built in fourteen eighty-seven. You can identify it by its heavy stone masonry and its position at a distinct junction where the…

The Zeedijk is defined by its distinct curve, a physical remnant of its origins as a thirteenth-century dike built to hold back the IJ and the Zuiderzee. This stretch of land once served as Amsterdam’s primary seawall, protecting the city…

Restaurant-Café In de Waag occupies a heavy, castle-like structure in the center of the Nieuwmarkt. Built in fourteen eighty-eight, this stone edifice originally served as the Saint Anthony Gate, one of the three primary entrances into…

Huis de Pinto is a seventeenth-century city mansion on Sint Antoniesbreestraat characterized by an imposing classicist facade that spans what were once two separate houses. Originally built in sixteen oh five, the structure took its…

The Zuiderkerk is defined by a stone tower that reaches eighty meters into the sky, capped by an octagonal spire that dominates the Nieuwmarkt area. Constructed between sixteen oh three and sixteen eleven, this was the first building in…

The Trippenhuis on Kloveniersburgwal is a grand, seven-window-wide mansion that reveals its owners’ profession in its very stonework. Built between sixteen sixty and sixteen sixty-two for the brothers Louis and Hendrick Trip, the building…