It was our night out in the heart of Amsterdam. This is De Waag, an old castle long since converted to a restaurant. De Waag, or old weighing station, was originally a gate in a castle built in 1488, but became a weighing house in 1614. It’s now a restaurant where you can get a fine pastry or coffee in the morning or a dinner at night. Dinner late at night is especially seductive because the place is lit by hundreds of candles in chandeliers.
“De WAAG” (formerly called “Sint Anthoniespoort”). Dutch WAAG = English “Weight”.
It was build in 1488, and it is located on “De Nieuwemarkt”. The building is remarkedly well preserved. Here in ancient times the products from the VOC-ships (nutmeg,cotton,pepper and the like), were supplied, weighted out by poorly verificated measures and sold by auction to merchants and the public. The building looks somewhat like a mediaeval castle and (see the Weeping Tower above) it was part of the Old City Wall. It was the Oldest Place of Communication in Amsterdam and to day it is still a marketplace.The Waag functioned as a city-gate. Rembrand van Rijn frequently visited this building and it is in this building that he painted “The anatomical lesson of Dr. Tulp” (1632). To day inside “De Waag” a good restaurant flourishes. Behind “De Waag”, on a distance of about 200 meters, and alongside the water, the Weeping tower was build.
