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Leidsegracht
The Leidsegracht () is a canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is a cross-canal in Amsterdam-Center that connects Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht and Lijnbaansgracht and flows into the Singelgracht at Marnixstraat. History The Leidsegracht was part of the Expansion of Amsterdam and marked the border between the first and the second phase of the construction of the Grachtengordel (canal belt). Between 1615 and 1658, the Leidsegracht was the southern boundary of the city. The canal got its name in 1658 and is named after the city of Leiden. Cornelis Lely (1854–1929), the hydraulic engineer, governor and minister who made the original plans for the reclamation of the Zuiderzee, was born on Leidsegracht no. 39. He is depicted on a gable stone between the Zuiderzee and the new IJsselmeer. Pieter Goemans was inspired to write the classic song ''Aan de Amsterdamse grachten'' (On the Amsterdam canals) in 1949 while walking across the bridge where the Prinsengracht and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keizersgracht
The Keizersgracht (; "Emperor's canal") is a canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is the second of the three main Amsterdam canals that together form the Grachtengordel, or canal belt, and lies between the inner Herengracht and outer Prinsengracht. History The first part of the Keizersgracht, between Brouwersgracht and (approximately) the current Leidsegracht, was dug in the summer of 1615 at the initiative of mayor Frans Hendricksz. Oetgens, city carpenter Hendrick Jacobsz Staets and city surveyor Lucas Jansz Sinck. The Keizersgracht was named after Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. It is the widest canal in the center of Amsterdam, namely one hundred Amsterdam feet, that is . The Keizersgracht is the second of the three main canals to have been dug; the Prinsengracht was dug in 1614. In September 1614 there arose an intention to turn the Keizersgracht into a chic boulevard without water, following the example of Lange Voorhout in The Hague. This idea was abandoned for a num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prinsengracht
The Prinsengracht is a -long canal that runs parallel to the Keizersgracht in the center of Amsterdam. The canal, named after the Prince of Orange, is the fourth of the four main canals belonging to the canal belt. History Construction started in 1612 on the initiative of Mayor Frans Hendricksz. Oetgens, after a design by city carpenter Hendrick Jacobsz Staets and city surveyor Lucas Jansz Sinck. The part between the Leidsegracht and the Amstel was developed during the city explanation of 1658. The section to the east of the Amstel was constructed during the last expansion. This part was named Nieuwe Prinsengracht. The Korte Prinsengracht is in the extension of the Prinsengracht between the Brouwersgracht and the Westerdok. Architecture and monuments There are many monuments and monumental canal houses on the Prinsengracht, including: * A crow-stepped gable on the corner with the Brouwersgracht at Prinsengracht 2–4. * The van Brienenhofje, or Rk. St Van Brienens Found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lijnbaansgracht
Lijnbaansgracht () is a partly filled-in canal in Amsterdam which bends beyond the boundary of the center, Amsterdam-Centrum. The canal runs parallel to the Singelgracht, between the Brouwersgracht and the Reguliersgracht. History The Lijnbaansgracht is named after the ropewalks ("lijnbanen") of the ropemakers, which needed a lot of space and were located here on the former edge of the city. Construction of the canal started in 1612 during the first stages of the construction of the canal belt. Filled in parts The Lijnbaansgracht ran through the Schans to the Muiderpoort until the 19th century. In the 19th century parts were filled in, overclocked or overlaid. *The Raamplein and the Raamdwarsstraat are on the filled in part between the Passeerdersgracht and the Leidsegracht (between Lijnbaansgracht 217 and 219). *The Leidseplein and the adjacent Kleine Gartmanplantsoen lie on the filled in part between Lijnbaansgracht 243 and nr. 245. The work around the Kleine-Gartmanpla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herengracht
The Herengracht () is the second of four Amsterdam canals belonging to the canal belt and lies between the Singel and the Keizersgracht. The Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend) in particular is known for its large and beautiful canal houses. History The Herengracht was built starting in 1612 on the initiative of Mayor Frans Hendricksz. Oetgens, city carpenter Hendrick Jacobsz. Staets and city surveyor Lucas Jansz Sinck. Before that it was a moat (dug in 1585) for the companies located behind the Singel. The canal ran within the city wall parallel to the canal outside the city wall. The Herengracht therefore still has a kink at Driekoningenstraat, where the outer moat was routed around a stronghold at that height. When the ditch was widened into the present canal it was given the name Herengracht in 1612, after the ''Heren Regeerders van de stad Amsterdam'' (Gentlemen Governors of the city of Amsterdam). The part between Leidsegracht and the Binnen Amstel is part of the expansion aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pieter Goemans
Pieter Goemans (1925-2000) was a Dutch composer, probably best known for having written the classic song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten". Biography Goemans was born on 6 June 1925 in Amsterdam. The son of a diplomat, his father forced him to write under a pseudonym to avoid any association between the family and the popular entertainment industry. Under the name Peter Shott he wrote, in 1949, the song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten"; Goemans was inspired to write the song in 1949 while walking across the bridge where the Prinsengracht and the Leidsegracht intersect. It wasn't supplied with sheet music and recorded until 1956, when an arrangement was written by pianist Dick Schallies (then a member of the Metropole Orkest) since (Schallies explained) Goemans couldn't write music. Henk Visscher, singer as well as guitar and bass player with Johnny Kraaijkamp, was the first to sing and record the song, In the 1960s Goemans was one of the regular lyricists for Corry Brokken, translating f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aan De Amsterdamse Grachten
"Aan de Amsterdamse grachten" (; "At the Amsterdam canals") is a Dutch song by Pieter Goemans. It was written in 1949 but not recorded until 1956, and many times more since then. It is one of the standard songs celebrating the city of Amsterdam, and one of the best-known and most popular songs in the Netherlands. Structure and content The song is a waltz, in 3/4 measure. Typical accompaniment is the accordion. The first verse recounts a childhood experience in the house of the grandparents, a house now occupied by other people and partly converted to office space. The second explains that after having traveled widely the speaker still longs to return to the city "on the Amstel and the IJ". A transitional verse suggests that the trees, high above traffic, and the boats on the water are unchanged. According to the refrain, the speaker has given his heart to the Amsterdam canals; Amsterdam fills his thoughts, and nothing could be better than to be an Amsterdammer. History Goemans w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the City Region of Amsterdam, urban area and 2,480,394 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originally a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singelgracht
The Singelgracht () is the waterway that borders the entire Amsterdam Center and flows along the Nassaukade, Stadhouderskade and Mauritskade. Formerly the canal and the ramparts on the city side formed the outer defenses of the city. Name The name is related to the Dutch word ''omsingelen'', "to surround", and comes ultimately from Latin ''cingulum'', meaning "belt". Other Dutch towns also have ring-shaped canals named Singel. History and course After the fourth expansion of the canal ring around 1660, the outer canal – with the ramparts that formed the defenses – became the boundary of the city. Within these ramparts there were strongholds on which mills were placed. As a result, the canal had a curvy course. Parallel to the Singelgracht, on the inside of the ramparts lay the Lijnbaansgracht, named after the lanes that lay there. Parts of the strongholds were demolished and the canal was straightened there. The old winding course can still be recognized in a few place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grachtengordel
The Grachtengordel (, "canal belt (girdle);" known in English as the Canal District) is a neighborhood in Amsterdam, Netherlands located in the Centrum district. The seventeenth-century canals of Amsterdam, located in the center of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in August 2010. The Amsterdam Canal District consists of the area around the city's four main canals: the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizersgracht, and the Prinsengracht. From the Brouwersgracht, the canals are generally parallel with one another, leading gradually southeast into the Amstel river. Many of the canal houses in the Amsterdam Canal District are from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th century. Many of these buildings, however, underwent restoration or reconstruction in various centuries, meaning that these building display many different architectural styles and facades. History Until the end of the 16th century, the city of Amsterdam encompassed the area inside the Singel and what is now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration with its suburbs Oegstgeest, Leiderdorp, Voorschoten and Zoeterwoude with 206,647 inhabitants. The Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) further includes Katwijk in the agglomeration which makes the total population of the Leiden urban agglomeration 270,879, and in the larger Leiden urban area also Teylingen, Noordwijk, and Noordwijkerhout are included with in total 348,868 inhabitants. Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some from The Hague to its south and some from Amsterdam to its north. The recreational area of the Kaag Lakes (Kagerplassen) lies just to the northeast of Leiden. A university city since 1575, Leiden has been one of Europe's most prominent scientific centres for more than four centuries. Leide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelis Lely
Cornelis Lely (; 23 September 1854 – 22 January 1929) was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union (LU) and civil engineer. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorising construction of the Zuiderzee Works, a huge project – designed to his own plans – that turned the Zuiderzee into a lake and made possible the conversion of a vast area of former seabed into dry land. Early life Cornelis Lely was born on 23 September 1854 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, son of an oilseed trader. Lely went to the Hogere Burgerschool (HBS). He later studied at the Polytechnic School in Delft and graduated as civil engineer in 1875. Career outline Between 1886 and 1891, Lely led the technical research team that explored the possibility, later approved by a State Commission, of enclosing the Zuiderzee. The Dutch parliament passed the law creating the Zuiderzee Works on 14 June 1918, using Lely's plan. He served three times as Minister of Transport and Water Management (in 189 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuiderzee
The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 metres (13–16 feet) and a coastline of about 300 km (200 miles). It covered . Its name is Dutch for "southern sea", indicating that the name originates in Friesland, to the north of the Zuiderzee (cf. North Sea). In the 20th century the majority of the Zuiderzee was closed off from the North Sea by the construction of the Afsluitdijk, leaving the mouth of the inlet to become part of the Wadden Sea. The salt water inlet changed into a fresh water lake now called the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake) after the river that drains into it, and by means of drainage and polders, an area of some was reclaimed as land. This land eventually became the province of Flevoland, with a population of nearly 400,000 (2011) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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