The Muntplein (literally "mint square") is a square in the centre of Amsterdam. The square is in fact a bridge - the widest bridge in Amsterdam - which crosses the Singel canal at the point where it flows into the Amstel river. All bridges in Amsterdam are numbered, and the Muntplein carries the number 1.
Muntplein is named after the Munttoren (or simply Munt) tower which stands on this square. This tower was once part of one of the three main medieval city gates. In the 17th century, it temporarily served as a mint, hence the name. The guard house building attached to the tower is not the original medieval structure but a late 19th-century fantasy. An underpass was added to the building during a 1938–1939 renovation.
The name "Muntplein" dates from 1917. The square was originally known as Schapenplein ("sheep square") and, from 1877 to 1917, as Sophiaplein (after Queen Sophia, first wife of William III).
The square is a bustling intersection of six streets. It forms the southern end of the Kalverstraat shopping street and the major street Rokin. The eastern end of the floating flower market (Bloemenmarkt) along the Singel canal is directly south of the square. Six tram lines (4, 9, 14, 16, 24 and 25) stop at Muntplein, but only when travelling south.
The building on Muntplein at the intersection of the Kalverstraat and Rokin is an early design by prominent Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage.
The Singel is a canal in Amsterdam which encircled the city in the Middle Ages. It served as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ bay, near Central Station, to the Muntplein square, where it meets the Amstel river. It is now the inner-most canal in Amsterdam's semicircular ring of canals.
The canal should not be confused with the Singelgracht canal, which became the outer limit of the city during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th Century.
Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 2010
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| Date of Issue: March 26, 2012 | Europa CEPT 2012 'Visit ...' |
Thank you, Jan !
Sent on: May 30, 2014
Received on: June 5, 2014
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