Misplaced Pages

#192807

18-694: The Herengracht, dug in 1612, is named after the Heren Regeerders who governed Amsterdam in the 16th and 17th centuries. The part between Leidsegracht and the Amstel belongs to the expansion of 1658. With the last expansion, the section was laid east of the Amstel to Schippersgracht, where the water flowed into the IJ , or since 1832 into the Oosterdok . This part, the Nieuwe Herengracht, like

36-629: A bay , in the Dutch province of North Holland . It is known for being Amsterdam 's waterfront. The name IJ is derived from the West Frisian word ie , alternatively spelled ije , meaning 'water' and cognate with the English word ea . The name consists of the digraph ij which is capitalized as IJ . Today, the IJ is divided into two parts: The IJ is connected to the North Sea to

54-497: A new port , IJmuiden ("IJ's mouth") was built at its west end. The east end of the IJ polders near Amsterdam was given over to industry, and a large new seaport area was constructed. The Buiten-IJ hosted the mixed dinghy sailing events for the 1928 Summer Olympics in neighboring Amsterdam. It also hosted two events for the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp . The nautical event SAIL Amsterdam takes place on and around

72-467: The Amstelhof was built between Nieuwe Herengracht and Nieuwe Keizersgracht in monumental classical style as a home for the elderly in need. The construction was made possible by a bequest and the donation of the building land by the city administration. It remained in use as a nursing home until 2007. The complex has been radically renovated. In 2009, the H'ART Museum opened its doors here. Behind

90-766: The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam , originally intended by the Amsterdam city council as a medicinal herb garden, was moved to the Nieuwe Herengracht. This botanical garden located on the bank of the Nieuwe Herengracht in the Hortus Bridge ( bascule bridge 239) and Muiderstraat is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. Around 1682, at the behest of the Diaconie of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations ,

108-616: The IJssel , which the Romans connected to the Rhine themselves, or the river Vecht. In the 17th and 18th centuries many country estates, known as buitenplaatsen , were built on the banks of the Vecht by rich merchants and administrators from Amsterdam . 52°20′13″N 5°04′08″E  /  52.337°N 5.069°E  / 52.337; 5.069 This article related to a river in

126-525: The Leidse Rijn / Oude Rijn branch to the west and the Vecht to the north. Originally the Vecht branched off south of the city near the Roman fort Fectio , flowing eastwards around the city, but in the 12th century a northern shortcut was dug out. The Vecht meanders north past the towns and villages of Maarssen , Breukelen and Nigtevecht , crosses the border into the province of North Holland , passes

144-719: The Nieuwe Keizersgracht and the Nieuwe Prinsengracht , ran through the prosperous part of Amsterdam's Jewish quarter . From 1874 the Nieuwe Herengracht has been part of the shipping connection between the Amstel and the Oosterdok and the IJ respectively. Before this the connection was via the Zwanenburgwal and the Oudeschans . The stone arch bridges were replaced by movable bridges for

162-646: The Vecht (Utrecht) and the other with the North Sea. Connection with the North Sea has subsequently disappeared, while the IJ in the Middle Ages has expanded. This is due to the emergence of the Zuiderzee , itself a bay of the North Sea resulting from a number of storms. At the end of the Middle Ages , the IJ was a long and narrow brackish bay that connected to the Zuiderzee and stretched from Amsterdam in

180-462: The H'ART Museum on the Nieuwe Herengracht 18 and 20 are the 18th-century houses Het Corvershof and Amstelrank. The monumental buildings were also commissioned by the Diaconie to accommodate and care for the elderly and the sick. Like Van Limmikhof and Hodshonhof, which are located on Nieuwe Keizersgracht, they are part of the Amstelhoven complex, which used to include the building that now houses

198-491: The H'ART Museum. They share the communal garden designed by Bureau Mien Ruys . Organizations related to the Protestant Diaconie Amsterdam are still located in the houses. Amstelrank offers accommodation to Het Wereldhuis, where refugees are assisted. IJ (Amsterdam) The IJ ( Dutch: [ɛi] ; sometimes shown on old maps as Y or Ye ) is a body of water , formerly

SECTION 10

#1732790514193

216-522: The IJ. Vecht (Utrecht) The Vecht ( pronounced [vɛxt] ) is a Rhine branch in the Dutch province of Utrecht . It is sometimes called Utrechtse Vecht to avoid confusion with its Overijssel counterpart . The area along the river is called the Vechtstreek . The Vecht originates from the city of Utrecht , where the Kromme Rijn stream forks into two branches:

234-594: The city of Weesp and discharges into the IJmeer (Lake IJ, part of the former Zuiderzee ) at Muiden . The Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal ( Amsterdam-Rhine Canal ) was dug in the Vecht basin. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that in the first century CE a Roman fleet sailed due north down a Rhine branch, then sailed past Lake Flevo (now the Markermeer and IJsselmeer lakes) into the North Sea . This could have been

252-556: The east to Velsen in the west. At its west end, only the natural dune ridge across the Dutch North Sea coast prevented the IJ, which grew ever larger through the centuries, from directly connecting to the North Sea and so making the North Holland peninsula nearly an island. By the seventeenth century, however, access to the IJ became difficult due to sand bars across its mouth, and ships becoming bigger, and it

270-586: The largest part of the IJ followed suit between 1865 and 1876, with only a small lake remaining at Amsterdam that was closed off from the Zuiderzee by the Oranje locks . At the same time, the North Sea Canal was constructed in the former IJ basin to provide Amsterdam with access to the sea again and revive its ailing port . It cut through the isthmus to connect to the North Sea near the town of Velsen;

288-482: The shipping industry. These bridges are the Weesperzijde (bridge 237: Walter Süskindbrug), Weesperstraat (bridge 238: M.S. Vaz Diasbrug ), Muiderstraat (bridge 239: Hortusbrug) and bridge 50 in line with Plantage Doklaan. These were replaced by the current bridges in the 1960s and 1970s. Because the expansion of Amsterdam reduced demand for land, some building plots were donated to charities. For example, in 1682

306-515: The west and the IJmeer to the east by a set of locks . There are several theories about the origins of the IJ. Perhaps it began as a stream, following a breakthrough in the dunes of Castricum . More likely, the IJ is a remnant of a northern arm of the Rhine delta . Finally, the IJ could also come from the lake Almere or Flevo . During the Roman period the IJ connected on one side with lake Flevo and

324-556: Was nearly impossible for seafaring vessels to reach the city of Amsterdam. At the same time, the bay gnawed away at the surrounding farmlands , almost connecting with the Haarlemmermeer (Lake Haarlem) and seriously threatening the cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam. Plans were put forth to reclaim both the Haarlemmermeer and the IJ and turn them into polders . The Haarlemmermeer was first, falling dry in 1852, and

#192807