Historic Buildings & Monuments

In a city with almost 7,000 officially recognized historical buildings and monuments, you'll find you're just about tripping over them. That Amsterdam has such a great mass of historical structures gives the city its overall character, but a few stand out head and gables above the crowd.

Behind the Gables

You might think all canal houses look similar. Many do, so far as basic shape goes. Look closer, though, and you'll notice a wonderful mix of architectural detail ranging from classical to Renaissance to modern.

Most of Amsterdam's 6,800 landmark buildings have gables. These hide the pitched roofs and demonstrate the architect's vertical showmanship in a city where hefty property taxes and expensive canalfront land encouraged pencil-thin buildings. If you can pick out Amsterdam's various gable styles without developing Sistine Chapel neck syndrome, you can date the buildings fairly accurately.

Of the earliest, triangular wood gables (1250-1550), only two remain, at no. 34 in the Begijnhof and at Zeedijk 1. Later developments in stone on this theme (1600-50) were the pointy spout gable and the step gable, which as the name suggests, looks like a series of steps. The graceful neck gable (1640-1790) looks like a headless neck with curlicues on the shoulders; look for the first one at Herengracht 168. These were complemented by the less-elaborate bell gable, which looks like a church bell's cross section.

Daniel Marot, a French architect who lived in Amsterdam from 1705 to 1717, introduced the Louis styles, common to 18th-century buildings. The heavy baroque Louis XIV-style suited neck gables; the asymmetrical, rococo Louis XV was better for bell gables.

Among the most lavish gables is one with tritons blowing horns at Herengracht 508. Next door at no. 510, a pair of stone sea gods ride leaping dolphins.

Around 600 old gevelstenen (gable stones) -- ornamental tiles, sculptures, or reliefs that often play on the original owner's name or profession -- still exist (they even have a society of admirers). Walls in the Begijnhof and on Sint-Luciënsteeg at the Amsterdam Historical Museum have some good gable stones, including the oldest known, from 1603, showing a milkmaid balancing her buckets.

Incidentally, the hijsbalk -- the hook you see on many gables -- might look to be ideal for a hanging (the kids maybe), but is actually used with rope and pulley for hauling large, heavy items in and out of homes that have steep, narrow staircases.

A Pious Retreat

A cluster of small homes around a garden courtyard, the Begijnhof, Spui (www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl; tram: 1, 2, or 5), dates from the 14th century and is one of the best places to appreciate the city's earliest history, when Amsterdam was a destination for religious pilgrims and an important Catholic center. The Begijnhof was not a convent, but a cloister founded in 1346 for pious lay women -- begijnen -- involved in religious and charitable work. These kinds of institutions gave options for women who wanted to live without a husband and children, but didn't want to become a nun, at a time when there were few alternatives. Originally, the Begijnhof was surrounded by water, with access via a bridge over what was then called the Begijnensloot canal. Even after the city's 1578 changeover from Catholicism to Protestantism, the Begijnhof remained in operation. The last begijn died in 1971, but you can still pay homage to these pious women by pausing a moment at the small flower-planted mound that lies at the center garden's edge and across from the Engelse Kerk (English Church). Despite its name, this church, built in 1607 and enlarged in 1665, was actually used by Scottish Presbyterians.

Opposite the church, at no. 30, is the Begijnhofkapel, a "secret" Catholic chapel from 1671. It's still in use, and dedicated to the Begijnhof's patron saints, John and Ursula. It wasn't all that much of a secret, since the city's Protestant fathers authorized its construction. It just couldn't be visible as a church from the outside, and the noted Catholic architect Philips Vingboons (1607-78) drew up the plans accordingly. The interior stained-glass windows depict scenes from the Miracle of the Host in 1345, a religious event that led to Amsterdam becoming a place of pilgrimage. Only one of the old (ca. 1425) timber houses, Het Houten Huys, at no. 34, remains.

Visit the Begijnhof daily from 9am to 5pm -- but take note that senior citizens now reside in the 47 homes, most of which date from the 17th and 18th centuries, and their privacy and tranquillity must be respected. Access is on Gedempte Begijnensloot, an alleyway off Spui. Admission is free. In fine weather, you might easily want to let a couple of hours slip by here.

Historical Sights

You may be starting to get the impression that Amsterdam is one big historical monument. Still, some buildings are more historic and monumental than others and therefore more worth going out of your way for. You won't have to go far out of your way to see Centraal Station. Designed by architect Petrus Josephus Hubertus Cuypers, the city's main railway station was built between 1884 and 1889 on three artificial islands (supported on 30,000 pilings) in the IJ channel. Amsterdammers thoroughly disliked it at the time. Now it's an attraction, partly for its extravagant Dutch neo-Renaissance facade, partly for the permanent liveliness that surrounds it. The left one of the two central towers has a gilded weathervane; on the right one, there's a clock. Take time to soak up the buzz that swirls around the station in a blur of people, backpacks, bikes, trams, buses, vendors, pickpockets, and junkies. There should be a busker or two, maybe even a full-blown jazz or rock combo, and perhaps a street organ -- if you're fortunate, it'll be a century-old Perlee hand-ground barrel-organ, made from richly carved and painted wood.

Not far away, across Prins Hendrikkade at the corner of Geldersekade, stands the Schreierstoren (Tower of Tears), built in 1480, once a strong point in the city wall bristling with cannon. Its name comes from the tears allegedly shed by wives as their men sailed away on voyages from which they might never return. A stone tablet on the wall shows a woman with her hand to her face. She might be weeping, but who knows what emotion that hand is really covering? Another tablet, placed in 1945, records the 350th anniversary of the Eerste Schipvaart Naar Oostindië 1595 (First Ocean Voyage to the East Indies, 1595). The tower's ground floor now houses a cozy traditional bar, the V.O.C. Café, Prins Hendrikkade 94-95 (tel. 020/428-8291), named for the Dutch initials of the United East India Company.

The Munttoren (Mint Tower) on Muntplein sits at a busy traffic intersection at the Rokin and Singel canals. In 1487, the tower's base was part of the Reguliers Gate in the city wall. In 1620, Hendrick de Keyser topped it with an ornate, lead-covered tower, from which a carillon of Hemony brothers bells sing out gaily every hour and play a 1-hour concert on Fridays at noon. The tower got its present name in 1672, when it housed the city mint.

The tilting Montelbaanstoren, the "leaning tower of Amsterdam," a fortification at the juncture of the Oude Schans and Waalseilandsgracht canals, dates from 1512. It's one of few surviving elements of the city's once-powerful defensive works. In 1606, Hendrick de Keyser added an octagonal tower and spire. The building now houses local Water Authority offices.

The 14th-century De Waag (Weigh House) Nieuwmarkt (tel. 020/557-9898; www.waag.org; Metro: Nieuwmarkt) is the city's only surviving medieval fortified gate. It later became a guild house; among the guilds lodged here was the Surgeon's Guild, immortalized in Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632), which depicts a dissection underway in the upper-floor Theatrum Anatomicum (the painting's on display at the Mauritshuis in The Hague). Most of De Waag now houses a specialized educational and cultural institute, and is rarely open; admission (when possible) is free, except in the case of occasional special exhibits. You can, however, visit the exceptional cafe-restaurant In de Waag on the ground floor.

Most of Golden Age Amsterdam's wealth was generated by trade, and most of that trade was organized by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (V.O.C.), based at Oost-Indisch Huis (East India House) on Oude Hoogstraat, off Kloveniersburgwal. Dating from 1606, the former headquarters of the first multinational corporation now belongs to the University of Amsterdam. Stroll into the courtyard and there's no problem with going inside, where corridors are hung with paintings depicting the 17th-century Dutch trading settlement of Batavia -- today's Jakarta, Indonesia.

West-Indisch Huis (West India House), at Herenmarkt 93-99, off Brouwersgracht, is also interesting. On the north side of this little square is a redbrick building, built as a meat-trading hall in 1615. In 1623, it became the headquarters of the Dutch West India Company, which controlled trade with the Americas. A current tenant is the John Adams Institute (tel. 020/624-7280; www.john-adams.nl), a U.S.-oriented philosophical and literary society that has hosted lectures by guest speakers like J. K. Galbraith, Gore Vidal, and Norman Mailer. In the courtyard is a bronze statue of Peter Stuyvesant, the one-legged governor of Nieuw Amsterdam (later New York) from 1647 until the British took over in 1664. A wall sculpture depicts the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island.

Not far from East India House is Amsterdam's first university, the Athenaeum Illustre, at Oudezijds Voorburgwal 231. Founded in 1631, the Athenaeum moved here in 1632 to occupy the 1470 Gothic Agnietenkapel (Church of St. Agnes). The building now houses the underwhelming University of Amsterdam Museum. In a 17th-century lecture room are portraits of the Dutch humanist and theologian Erasmus and of the Florentine strongman Lorenzo de' Medici. Across the Kloveniersburgwal canal from the university, at Kloveniersburgwal 95, is the opulent Poppenhuis (1642), designed by that indefatigable Golden Age architect Philips Vingboons in an Italianate style for Joan Poppen, a wealthy merchant's grandson and heir. It has a classically influenced triangular pediment and ornamental pilasters.

A monument of a far different temper is the forlorn remnant of the Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch Theater), Plantage Middenlaan 24 (tel. 020/626-9945; www.hollandscheschouwburg.nl; tram: 9 or 14), not far from the Jewish Historical Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue. All that remains of this former Yiddish theater is its facade, behind which is a memorial plaza of grass and walkways. Nazis used the theater as an assembly point for Dutch Jews -- 60,000-80,000 of whom passed through here on their way to death camps. A granite column rising out of a Star of David emblem commemorates "those deported from here 1940-45." On a marble memorial, watched over by an eternal flame, are inscribed 6,700 family names of the 104,000 Dutch Jews who perished in the Holocaust. An educational exhibit shows how the Nazis gradually isolated Amsterdam's Jewish community before beginning to exterminate its members. The site is open daily from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free.

For more than 2 centuries after Amsterdam's 1578 Protestant revolution, the Alteratie, other Christian denominations were forbidden to worship openly. Clandestine places of worship sprang up around the city. The best known of these was the Catholic Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder. Another, which is in fact Holland's oldest and largest, is the Remonstrant Church in a one-time hat store called De Rode Hoed (the Red Hat), Keizersgracht 102 (tel. 020/638-5606; tram: 13, 14, or 17), in a fine canalside building -- look for the little red hat on the gable stone. The chapel in back, with a balcony and an impressive organ, dates from 1630 and is now a venue for classical music concerts and debates.

The Seven Countries Houses at Roemer Visscherstraat 20-30 were built in 1894 in architectural styles from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Holland, and England. While these aren't really worth going far out of your way for, drop by if you're in the area, or are lodging at a hotel close to Roemer Visscherstraat.

Magna Plaza, behind the Dam and the Royal Palace, was formerly Amsterdam's main post office. The elegant, arcaded building constructed with red-and-cream bricks opened in 1899. Amsterdammers immediately dubbed it Perenberg (Pear Mountain) because of its pear-shaped towers. It's been transformed into a mall with an icky Latin name.

The Smallest Houses

The narrowest house in Amsterdam (and who knows, maybe even the world) is at Singel 7. It's just a meter (3 1/2 ft.) wide, barely wider than the front door. It is, however, a cheat. Only the front facade is really so narrow; behind that, it broadens out to more normal proportions. The real narrowest house is at Oude Hoogstraat 22, between the Dam and Nieuwmarkt. It has a typical Amsterdam bell gable and is 2.02m (6 2/3 ft.) wide.and 6m (20 ft.) deep. A close rival, at 2.4m (7 3/4 ft.) wide, is nearby at Kloveniersburgwal 26; this is the cornice-gabled Klein Trippenhuis, also known as Mr. Trip's Coachman's House. It faces the elegant Trippenhuis at no. 29, which, at 22m (72 ft.), is the widest Old Amsterdam house. The wealthy merchant Trip brothers had it built for themselves in 1660, and the story goes that the coachman exclaimed one day: "Oh, if only I could be so lucky as to have a house as wide as my master's door!" His master overheard this, and the coachman's wish was granted. The small house is now a fashion boutique.

Floating Cat House -- The Poezenboot (Cat Boat), on the Singel canal facing no. 16 (tel. 020/625-8794; www.poezenboot.nl), is a temporary home to dozens of stray cats.

Notable Bridges

Made of African azobe wood, the famous Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge), a double drawbridge, spans the Amstel between Kerkstraat and Nieuwe Kerkstraat. This is the latest successor, dating from 1969, to the 1672 original, which legend says was built to make it easier for the two wealthy Mager sisters, who lived on opposite banks of the river, to visit each other. The footbridge, one of the city's 60 drawbridges, is a big draw, especially after dark, when it's illuminated by hundreds of lights. A bridge master raises it to let boats through.

Though most of the Blauwbrug (Blue Bridge) over the Amstel at Waterlooplein looks gray, renovation reinstated blue lanterns. Now Blauwbrug, at least at night, is once again as blue as when the city's great Impressionist artist George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) painted it in the 1880s. The cast-iron bridge (1884), inspired by Paris's Pont Alexandre III, is named after a 16th-century timber bridge painted Nassau blue after the 1578 Protestant takeover. The columns that bear the lamps are surmounted by sculpted copies of the Habsburg imperial crown.

The widest bridge in the old town, the Torensluis, Singel (at Oude Leliestraat; tram: 1, 2, 5, 13, or 17), stands on the site of a 17th-century sluice gate flanked by twin towers that were demolished in 1829. Its foundations were used for what must have been a particularly damp and gloomy prison. Sidewalk terraces from nearby cafes encroach onto the span, and the bronze statue on the bridge is of Multatuli, a 19th-century author.

From the bridge over Reguliersgracht at Keizersgracht, you get a view of seven parallel bridges, which are floodlit at night.

Modern Sights & Monuments

On Westermarkt is the world's first-ever monument to the gays and lesbians killed during World War II and persecuted through the ages. The Homomonument, by sculptor Karin Daan and formally titled To Friendship (1987), consists of three pink triangular granite blocks (the color and shape of the badge the Nazis forced homosexuals to wear), that together form a larger triangular outline. One block, symbolizing the future, points to the Keizersgracht canal; a second, at ground level, points toward the nearby Anne Frank House -- a bronze sculpture of Anne stands on the square; the third, a kind of plinth, points toward the offices of COC, a gay cultural organization.

An equally thought-provoking memorial honors another group of persecuted individuals -- black African slaves, of whom the Dutch did their share of abducting, transporting to the Americas, and setting to unrequited labor. The pleasant but undistinguished surroundings of the Oosterpark (Tram: 3 or 7), a 19th-century park in the English landscape style in Amsterdam-Oost (East), experienced quite a jolt in 2002 with the installation of the spectacular Slavernijmonument (Slavery Monument). The lengthy sculpture recounts in bronze a journey toward freedom. At the rear, a group of African men, women, and children trudge along, roped together. In the center, one of them passes under a winged arch and enters freedom. At the front, a large figure with outstretched arms greets those emerging from the arch.

Amsterdam hasn't been resting on its laurels when it comes to creating places that future generations might think of as historic. Back in the 1980s, in fact, pitched street battles took place at -- ironic, this -- Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square) between police and protesters whose respective views on the merits of the city's new combined opera-and-ballet hall and city hall evidently differed. (If the idea of Dutch police cracking skulls, drawing blood, and belching out clouds of tear-gas seems at odds with their laid-back image, let me assure you that a steel fist lurks within that Euro-softie kid glove.) In any case, the Muziektheater and Stadhuis (1986) on Waterlooplein are paragons of postmodern architecture, which means nobody loves them much. At least what goes on inside the Muziektheater is generally appreciated, something you couldn't say about the Stadhuis. (Another worthy stop for music is the 19th-century concert hall Concertgebouw at Concertgebouwplein 2-6.)

Way down in south Amsterdam, the RAI Convention Center has been spreading like an amoeba for decades, until now it is the largest single institution inside the city limits and a big money spinner. Many visitors to the city come for no other reason than to take part in or visit a trade show, convention, or congress here -- okay, they might also visit a dope den, a raunchy club, or a red-light haunt.