August 5, 2009, De Waag, Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam @ 13.15
We were on our way to lunch in Amsterdam's Chinatown area. The main square in Chinatown, called the Nieuwmarkt (New Market), is dominated by this historic building called De Waag.
De Waag, or weigh house, started its life in 1488 as one of the four gates in what was then Amsterdam's outer defense wall. It was originally called the Sint Antoniespoort, being the gate ('poort') at the beginning of Sint Antonies street. The oldest plaque in Amsterdam is found on this structure, reading, "On 28 April 1488 the first stone of this gate was laid."
Imagine, the area between the two smaller towers was the gate leading out of the city. On the back is an identical side with the gate leading into the city. The structure had no roof and a canal run through it with a drawbridge allowing passage between the two gates. There also of course used to be a high meter and a half thick wall emanating out from the structure.
As the city grew out in the 1590s the defense wall and gate lost its value. Between 1603 and 1613 the wall was torn down and in 1617 this building was renovated to become Amsterdam's primary weigh house. At the time, there were no widely accepted weighing standards and merchants would like to see for themselves the weight of trade goods being determined before starting the buying and selling. Much of what the country imported from the far east would be off-loaded at this building for subsequent weighing and sale.
The building also housed several important middle ages guilds including smiths, painters, masons and surgeons. In fact, in 1691, an anatomical theater was added inside for viewing medical dissections. After the demise of the guilds in 1795 the building had many and varied municipal and private functions. Since the mid-90's it houses a trendy cafe-restaurant and a foundation that is involved in new media research and applications.
Oh yeah, we eventually decided to eat at Bird's Snackbar, a small 24 seat 'hole in the wall' serving authentic and relatively inexpensive Thai food. Amie was in desperate need of something very spicy and Thai food will do the trick.
At the table (need to remember which way to hold the phone when making a video).....
Amie eats cow testicle
Leaving the restaurant....
Biking after lunch
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