Watercolour Painting The Waag Nieuwmarkt Amsterdam Blue Hour

by Hendrik-Jan Kornelis

Watercolour Painting of De Waag on the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam during the Blue Hour.

De Waag is a 15th-century building on Nieuwmarkt in the centre of Amsterdam. It was originally a city gate. Its current name refers to its later function as a weighing house.

The building has had a range of other functions, including guildhall, museum, fire station and anatomical theatre. Since 1996, it has been home to the Waag Foundation, with catering facilities on the ground floor.

Originally, the building was a city gate, called the Sint Antoniespoort. The gate was in line with the Zeedijk. Outside the city walls, the dyke continued as Sint Antoniesdijk. After construction of the Lastage in the 16th century, the Sint Antoniesbreestraat was located here and a second Sint Antoniespoort was built near the later Hortus Botanicus.

The city gate was part of the medieval city enclosure along today's Singel, Kloveniersburgwal and Geldersekade. This enclosure was built in the years 1481-1494, and consisted of defence towers and city gates, interconnected by a city wall. The city wall was made of brick, except for a natural stone base. Almost nothing remains of the wall, but pieces of sandstone from the city wall can still be found in the quay wall of Geldersekade. The Schreierstoren is the only remaining defence tower. Of the city gates, only the Sint Antoniespoort (the current Waag) and part of the Regulierspoort (the lower part of the Munttoren) remain.