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The Oudezijds Voorburgwal, often abbreviated to OZ Voorburgwal, is a street and canal in the center of Amsterdam. The OZ Voorburgwal runs from the Grimburgwal in the south to the Zeedijk in the north, where it merges into the Oudezijds Kolk, the drainage on the IJ.
The bridge over the OZ Voorburgwal between Damstraat and Oude Doelenstraat (bridge no. 204) forms a clear dividing line between the noisy northern Red Light District and the quiet southern part. On the one hand, it is one of the most famous streets in the Red Light District, full of sex shops, window prostitutes, peep shows, brothels, pubs and coffee shops (The Bulldog even has several branches and a hotel here). On the other hand, it is also full of monumental canal houses from the Golden Age and remains of the many monasteries that stood here in the Middle Ages.
History
Originally, the OZ Voorburgwal was a creek that was further excavated into a moat around the eastern part of the city, the old side. Before 1385, the Amstel divided the city of Amsterdam into two almost equal parts, the old side with the Oude Kerk and the new side with the Nieuwe Kerk. To protect the city, a moat was dug on each side with a rampart behind it, an earthen wall, with a wooden palisade to shield it. When new ramparts were built behind these ramparts around 1385, the existing rampart became the Voorburgwal and the new rampart the Achterburgwal, both on the old and the new side. This is how the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, Oudezijds Achterburgwal, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal (now Spuistraat) came into being.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the canal was usually called the Fluwelenburgwal. When the buildings on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal were built in the Golden Age, canal gardens were also laid out behind the mansions. Nowadays they have almost all disappeared.
The beer quay was the quay on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, near the Oude Kerk, where the barrels of beer arrived and porters worked who loaded and unloaded the heavy barrels. The inhabitants of this part of Amsterdam were known as invincible fighters. The proverbial "fighting a losing battle" is derived from this: committing yourself to a hopeless cause.
Notable buildings
There are more than a hundred national monuments on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal. Some well-known buildings on the OZ Voorburgwal are:
The Oude Kerk, the oldest building in Amsterdam, on the Oudekerksplein between OZ Voorburgwal and Warmoesstraat.
At no. 14 is the oldest stone house in Amsterdam, long used by the Salvation Army and for many years the home of Major Bosshardt.
The Prinsenhof (OZ Voorburgwal 197), now the five-star hotel Hotel The Grand. This former monastery was converted into the Prinsenhof after the Alteration in 1578. When King Louis I moved into the Palace on Dam Square in 1808, the city council moved to the Prinsenhof. The building served as the city hall of Amsterdam until the Stopera was put into use in 1988. The extension of the town hall with a modern façade in Amsterdam School style designed by N. Lansdorp dates from 1926.
The Agnietenkapel (OZ Voorburgwal 231), a monastery chapel from 1470, converted in 1631 into the Athenaeum Illustre, the predecessor of the University of Amsterdam. The University Museum has been housed here since 1988.
Our Lord in the Attic (OZ Voorburgwal 40), a former clandestine church, now a cultural-historical museum.
De Gecroonde Raep (OZ Voorburgwal 57), a house built by Hendrick de Keyser. This is a well-known example of a stepped gable in the Amsterdam Renaissance style by De Keyser.
The Coat of Arms of Riga (OZ Voorburgwal 14), a 17th-century merchant's house.
Vredenburgh, a building of which the oldest parts date from the 15th century
Stadsbank van Lening (De Lommerd), Oudezijds Voorburgwal 300.
The House on the Three Canals is located at the southern end of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal at the point of meeting this canal with the Oudezijds Achterburgwal and the Grimburgwal.