History and information about brigde 32 Kaasmarktsluis
The bridge is named after the local cheese market. Although the cheese market and butter market are no more after a campaign of gentrification in the late 1800’s, the bridges and nearby streets somehow kept their names.
Some users of the Botermarkt complained at the time about the loss of
commercial space but it did not prevent the placing of the Rembrandt statue in the butter market and the placing of the Thorbecke in the cheese market.
The claim of the Rembrandt statue on the popular Botermarkt only
expanded when the municipal authorities aimed to transform the square
into a more decent space, the authorities tried to influence popular behaviour and in 1876, the statue of the liberal statesman Thorbecke was erected a few hundred metres away from that of Rembrandt. This led to a large-scale renovation of the Botermarkt and the adjoining Kaasmarkt/Reguliersplein (‘Cheese Market’). Both squares were meant to attract more civilised user groups, and passers-by should be stimulated to look at the statues of Rembrandt and Thorbecke. One of the effects was that the location that had been used for commercial markets also then went through a rebranding exercise and this was reflected in street names. In 1876, the Botermarkt
was rechristened as Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square) simultaneously, the Reguliersplein was named after Thorbecke.
Picture 1 The Reguliersgracht was then, and still is, picturesque today
Picture 2 Thorbeckplein