Haringpakkersbrug (Bridge 58 Herring packers bridge)
#brug58 The Haringpakkersbrug is a road bridge in Amsterdam-Centrum that is named after the Haring Pakkerye that was once located here. This also was the reason for the naming of the Haringpakkerstoren (an old fortification tower on the corner of the Singel and the current Prins Hendrikkade and now better known for the Silver Tower office building to the east of Central station) and the Haringpakkerssteeg both of which were demolished in 1829.
The part of the present-day Prins Hendrikkade at this corner was called Haringpakkerij, because the herring packers salted, boiled and packaged herring here as Singel flowed directly into the Ij.
Striking about the bridge are the balustrades between the brick bastions of the bridge. Like Piet Kramer, Dirk Sterenberg often made total concepts (see also #bridge13 ). On one of the abutments, letters depicting “Coming back is not the same as staying”, a 2006 artwork by Regina Verhagen with a line by Belle van Zuylen from her letter to David-Louis Constant d’Hermenches; the letters are executed in terrazzo. In the run-up to the bicycle tunnel, a kind of gable stone can still be seen with a statement about Amsterdam Level.
Also striking is the size of the bridge it is clearly too wide for the traffic flow here and the old tram lines over the bridge (part of why it was so wide) were never used and are being removed. This was in part due to the car being dominant at the time of its planning. See the history and information post for more on this.
