Fog in dark Amsterdam - part 2: Damrak by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About "Fog in dark Amsterdam - part 2: Damrak"

by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

About the artwork

The Damrak in Amsterdam is a street and a waterway between the Dam and the Central Station.

Originally, the Damrak was the name of the straight stretch (a 'rak' is a straight stretch of water) of the Amstel River between the Plaetse and the IJ. Via a lock at the Plaetse, the water flowed from the Rokin into the Damrak and then flowed out into the IJ. Here lay part of the old port of Amsterdam. Where Central Station now stands, there was a row of mooring posts in the IJ, to which larger ships could moor. The quay, which only runs on one side of the water, was called "Op 't Water" until the filling in of southern parts of the Damrak, between the Dam and the Oudebrugsteeg, in 1845 and in 1883. Between 1845 and 1903, Zocher's Stock Exchange stood on the site where the Bijenkorf now stands.

The houses on Warmoesstraat between Nieuwebrugsteeg and Oudebrugsteeg still have their rear ends in the unmuffled section of the Damrak. At the Guldehandsteeg, which connects the water with the Warmoesstraat, the only remaining "waterstoep", where ships were unloaded, is located in this row of gables. In this remaining part of the water (the "Wet Damrak") tour boats moor.

The Damrak is part of the route that should give the traveller a first impression of the city after leaving the station. This route, called the "Red Carpet", runs from Central Station over the Rokin, the Muntplein, the Vijzelstraat/canal to the Weteringcircuit. On the Damrak man