Brug 56: The Unnamed Bridge That Holds Two Neighbourhoods Together
A historical investigation into the oldest surviving bridge structure at the Brouwersgracht’s canal ring crossings, its documentary heritage, and its quietly remarkable neighbourhood. Bridge 56 (Brug zesenvijftig) This road bridge connects the eastern quay of the Keizersgracht with the Binnen Brouwersstraat spanning Brouwersgracht and shares its southwestern quay wall with the previous bridge #Pastoorsbrug aka…
Brug 55: The Pastoorsbrug and the Secret Catholic Congregation at the Canal’s Edge
Pastoorsbrug (The Pastor’s Bridge number 55) Located in the southern quay of the Brouwersgracht spanning the Keizersgracht. It is therefore the northernmost bridge over Keizersgracht since it does not continue on the other side of the Brouwersgracht. The bridge is relatively young and is not a monument itself but it shares the quay wall with…
Brug 54: The Noordsche Compagniebrug and the Ghost of Amsterdam’s Whale Oil Trade
Noordsche Compagniebrug (Northern Company Bridge number 54) AKA Noordschebrug. Spanning Keizersgracht #bridge54 connects Herenstraat with Prinsenstraat.The bridge has been a municipal monument since 1995 and is named after Noordse Compagnie who had three warehouses along Keizersgracht between this bridge and the #Pastoorsbrug located to the north. Of the five warehouses, three lay along this stretch…
Brug 53: The First Stone Laid and the Last Monument Beside It
Bridge 53 (Brug drieenvijftig) Remaining on the Keisersgracht and the junction with Leliegracht to continue our journey. Road bridge 53 is located on the eastern quay of the Keizersgracht spanning the Leliegracht. It is flanked by #bridge51 (adjoining) and #bridge52 (on the opposite side of Keizersgracht), spanning the Keizersgracht and the Leliegracht respectively.All three bridges…
Brug 52: The Bridge at the Foot of the Lily Lock
Bridge 52 (Brug tweeenvijftig) Remaining on the Keisersgracht and the junction with Leliegracht to continue our journey. Road bridge 52 is located on the northern quay of the Leliegracht spanning the Keizersgracht. It is flanked by #bridge51 (adjoining) and #bridge53 (on the opposite side of Keizersgracht), spanning the Keizersgracht and the Leliegracht.All three bridges are…
Brug 51: Amsterdam’s Lily Bridge and the Art of the Beautiful Lie
Standing at the Corner of Flowers and Emperors If you have ever stood on the western quay of the Keizersgracht, just south of the Westermarkt, and looked northward along the broad, elm-lined stretch of water toward the soaring Westertoren, you have almost certainly been standing on, or very near, Bridge 51. It is not Amsterdam’s…
The Latjesbrug (Brug 50): Amsterdam’s Slatted Bridge and the Story Written in Steel
A Name Born of Practicality Amsterdam’s bridges carry their identities in many ways. Some commemorate merchants, admirals, or city engineers. Others take their names from vanished gates, nearby churches, or trades that once defined their neighborhood. Bridge 50, the Latjesbrug, belongs to a different, altogether more literal tradition: it is named for the material underfoot.…
Kees Fensbrug: Bridge 49 and the Man Who Looked Out at His Own Bridge
A Fixed Arch Bridge on the Keizersgracht, Connecting the Hartenstraat with the Reestraat, Named on the First Anniversary of Its Namesake’s Death Most bridge names in Amsterdam are chosen at a distance from the people they honour. A committee meets, a proposal is submitted, a gazette records the decision, and the name is installed on…
Marten Toonderbrug: Bridge 48 and the Bridge That Took Thirty Years to Find Its Name
A Three-Arch Bridge on the Keizersgracht, Connecting Wolvenstraat with Berenstraat, Named After the Creator of Tom Poes and Olivier B. Bommel Bridge 48 has had a more complicated naming history than almost any other crossing in this series. For years it was informally known as the Felix Meritisbrug, after the Enlightenment building beside it. In…
Bridge 47: The Unnamed Crossing at the Theatre’s Edge, Seen on Six Centuries of Maps and in the Light of a Famous Fire
A Fixed Bridge on the Keizersgracht, Connecting the Huidenstraat with the Runstraat in the Heart of the Nine Streets Bridge 47 carries no official name and has never carried an informal one. It has appeared on city maps since 1599, been painted by at least two significant Dutch artists, and been photographed as the backdrop…
Bridge 46: The Bridge That Collapsed in the Night, and the Sculptor Who Worked Around the Corner
An Arch Bridge on the Northern Quay of the Leidsegracht, Spanning the Keizersgracht, and the Memory of Amsterdam’s Greatest Baroque Sculptor Bridge 46 is the bridge that fell down. Not in the so so distant past, not in some undocumented catastrophe, but on the night of 11 to 12 November 1894, when the middle arch…
Steenhouwerijbrug: Bridge 45 and the Stone Cutters Who Built Amsterdam’s Golden Age
An Arch Bridge on the Northeastern Quay of the Keizersgracht, Spanning the Leidsegracht, and the Memory of the City’s Most Important 17th-Century Workshop Bridge 45 sits directly across the Keizersgracht from Bridge 44, the two crossings facing each other from opposite quays where the Leidsegracht meets the canal at its widest point. Where Bridge 44…
Bridge 44: The Bridge That Once Bore the Name of Amsterdam’s Bell Founders, and Nearly Lost Its Arch to a Neighbouring Collapse
An Arch Bridge on the Southwestern Quay of the Keizersgracht, Spanning the Leidsegracht, with Two Terrace Moorings and a History Written in Bronze Bridge 44 occupies a precise and beautiful position in the Keizersgracht’s southward run. The bridge is a fixed bridge in Amsterdam-Centrum. The arch bridge is situated in the southwestern quay of the…
Bridge 43: Piet Kramer’s Leidsestraat Masterpiece, Where Trams Still Run Over Fabeldieren
A Rijksmonument Fixed Bridge on the Leidsestraat at the Keizersgracht, Carrying Trams 2 and 12 Across One of Amsterdam’s Busiest Shopping Streets Bridge 43 has carried more trams, more cyclists, more shoppers, and more tourists than almost any other crossing in Amsterdam’s canal belt. It sits in the Leidsestraat where it crosses the Keizersgracht, one…
Bridge 42: The Unnamed Cycling Bridge at the Gateway to Amsterdam’s Antique Quarter
A Fixed Bridge on the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat at the Keizersgracht, Once Named After the Cyclists Who Crossed It Bridge 42 carries no official name and, since July 2016, no informal one either. Until that date it was known, at least to those who kept close track of Amsterdam’s bridge geography, as the Wielrijdersbrug: the Cyclist…