Grachtengordel
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How it came to be
The canal ring of Amsterdam was a new 'port city' planned at the end of the 16th and the start of the 17th century. Outside the medieval town, swampland was drained, canals were dug in concentric arcs and the spaces between were filled in, while the city's fortified boundary moved out to the Singelgracht. The Singel, which ringed the old town, had served as a moat from 1480 to 1585.
The plan gave three canals, the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, to housing and trade, and the outer Singelgracht to defence and water management. Building proceeded not from the centre outward but from west to east: the north-western sector was begun in 1613 and finished around 1625. The southern sector followed slowly after 1664 during an economic depression, and the eastern part was never built as planned.
Into the mid-19th century the canal water was stagnant, so in 1879 a steam pumping station was built to flush the canals with water from the Zuiderzee. The canal ring was fully connected to the sewer system only in 1987. Some 1,550 monumental buildings line the canals, and the area was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2010.
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