Quiet evening at the Oostpoort in Delft by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

The Oostpoort is the only one of the originally eight city gates remaining from the city of Delft, in the Dutch province of South Holland. The original city gates had to be demolished in 1359 as punishment because Delft had lost a war against Duke Albrecht of Bavaria. After this, the Oostpoort, like the other city gates, was immediately rebuilt, and was raised in 1519.

When William of Orange came to live in Delft in 1572, the entire fortress was fortified. Around 1840, the other Delft city gates were demolished, only the Oostpoort was allowed to remain, as it was not in the way in the outskirts of the city. A small piece of fortification wall on the north side and a statue of a guard above the gate are reminders that the gate was once there to protect Delft.

The Oostpoort consists of a land gate and a water gate connected by remnants of a city wall, all fully restored in 1964. The adjacent Oostpoort bridge dates from 1514 and, like the gate itself, is also a national monument. In theme park Huis ten Bosch in Japan, a replica of the Oostpoort and the nearby drawbridge can be found.

Delft has a historic city centre, created on a dug-up watercourse, the 'Delf', a dug-up extension of the Schie, and named after it; delven means digging. At the elevated place where this 'Delf' crossed the creek ridge of the silted-up little river Gantel, a grave vroonhof was established, probably since the 11th century.

In the 19th century, Delft developed into an industrial city and today, with the presence of a Technical University and the research institutes TNO and Deltares, presents itself mainly as Delft Knowledge City with the slogan Creating History. Delft's nickname is the City of Princes. The city's patron saint is Hippolytus of Rome.