The Amsterdamse Poort is an old

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is located at the end of the old route from Amsterdam to Haarlem and the only gate left from the original twelve city gates.

History

It was created in 1355 and is the only remaining city gate from the defenses of Haarlem. Until the 17th century it was the city gate used for traffic by land eastwards towards

Spaarnwoude Spaarnwoude is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer and lies about northeast of Haarlem. Overview The village was first mentioned in the first half of the 11th century as Spirnere ...

over the Laeghe weg (now Oude weg). In 1631 the

Haarlemmertrekvaart The Haarlemmertrekvaart �haːrlɛmərˈtrɛkfaːrt(Haarlem's Tow-Canal) is a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It was dug in 1631, making it the oldest tow-canal in Holland. Travel on such can ...

was dug, which shortened the waterway from Haarlem to

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 ...

considerably. Kenau en de Vrouwen van Haarlem

This gate, for those travelling by land, was called the ''Spaarnwouderpoort''. With the new canal and its

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...

, the trip was so short, it became much more popular, since it was now possible to travel back and forth to Amsterdam on the same day. Thus the name of the gate changed to ''Amsterdamse Poort''.''Beknopte geschiedenis van Haarlem'',by

Gerdina Hendrika Kurtz Gerdina Hendrika Kurtz (1899–1989) was a Dutch historian, writer and archivist. She published under the name, G.H. Kurtz. Early years Gerda Kurtz was born in Amsterdam, and moved to Haarlem with her family at age seven. She studied at a girls' ...

, 1946, p.31 In 1865 the city government wanted to demolish the gate. A speedy procedure to put down the gate was requested, as the gate was in pretty bad shape and was blocking the construction of a new bridge on the location just in front of the gate. However, there was not enough money at the moment to construct a new bridge, so the city council agreed to provide funds for a short-term renovation of the gate to make sure it would stay up for two or three more years. In 1867 the Papentoren, a tower, was demolished, and the

munition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

that had been stored there needed a storage space. A room in the Amsterdamse Poort was suited for that and the munition was stored. In 1869 the bridge in front of the gate was finally reconstructed. In 1874 most of the (explosive) munition was taken outside the city. In 1889 a small renovation was planned, with a budget of 1,490

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

s. The city architect, J. Leijh, started the project, which later required an extra 775 guilders. In the 1960s the gate was declared a national monument. In 1985 a complete renovation of the gate took place.

References

{{coord, 52, 22, 50, N, 4, 38, 48, E, display=title, region:NL_type:landmark_source:nlwiki Buildings and structures completed in 1355 Gates in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Haarlem Buildings and structures in Haarlem