Watercolour Painting Damrak Amsterdam Blue Hour by Hendrik-Jan Kornelis

A Watercolour Painting of the Damrak houses in Amsterdam during the Blue Hour.

Originally, the Damrak was the name of the straight stretch (A 'rak' is a straight stretch of canal) of the Amstel river between the Plaetse (until the early 17th century the name of the current Dam) and the IJ. Via a lock at the Plaetse, the water flowed from the Rokin into the Damrak and then emptied into the IJ. Here was part of Amsterdam's old harbour. Where Central Station is now, there was a row of mooring posts in the IJ, where larger ships could moor. The quay, which runs along one side of the water only, was called "Op 't Water" until the southern parts of the Damrak, between Dam Square and Oudebrugsteeg, were filled in 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 stand with their rear façades in the undammed part of Damrak. Near Guldehandsteeg, which connects the water to Warmoesstraat, this row of gables still contains the only remaining waterfront pavement, where ships were unloaded. In this remaining part of the water (the "Wet Damrak") tour boats moor.

Two bridges over the Damrak, the Papenbrug (near the Oude Kerk) and the Oude Brug, disappeared when they were filled in (the Papenbrugsteeg and Oudebrugsteeg still remind us of them). The Nieuwe Brug (bridge no. 303) lies where the Prins Hendrikkade crosses the Damrak. A lock, the Nieuwe Brugsluis, is also located here.