12 Best Sights in Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam

Once the repository of the nation's gold supply, this former National Bank with its stern Neoclassical facade is now home to archaeological treasures from the collection of the University of Amsterdam. The museum traces the early development of Western civilization, from the Egyptians to the Romans, and of the Near Eastern cultures (Anatolia, Persia, Palestine) in a series of well-documented displays. The building, which underwent a recent renovation completed in 2019, is also connected to the University of Amsterdam's Bijzondere Collecties (Special Collections) showcase with interesting exhibitions.

Built in 1488, the Waag functioned as a city gate, Sint Antoniespoort, until 1617. It would be closed at exactly 9:30 pm to keep out not only bandits but also the poor and diseased who squatted outside the city's walls. When Amsterdam expanded, the structure began a second life as a weigh house for incoming goods. The top floor of the building accommodated the municipal militia and several guilds, including the stonemasons, who did the evocative decorations that grace each of the seven towers' entrances. One tower housed a teaching hospital for the Surgeons' Guild. The Theatrum Anatomicum (Anatomy Theater), with its cupola tower covered in painted coats of arms, was the first place in the Netherlands to host public autopsies; for obvious reasons, these took place only in the winter. The building is now occupied by Restaurant-Café In De Waag and the Waag Society (institute for art, science, and technology).

Jewish financier, economist, and scholar Isaac de Pinto was a significant investor in the Dutch East Indies Company and bought this house in 1651. It was grandly renovated in the style of Dutch Classicism by his son, together with architect Elias Bouwman, in the 1680s. In the 1960s it was almost demolished so that the street could be widened, but activists saved the building. The restored interior features recent additions, such as beautiful painted ceilings and by the entrance, a little cherub reading a book, a reference to the building's current manifestation as a literary and cultural center. The reading room is a peaceful place to while away a few hours on a rainy day (or swap a book in the book exchange library) and ''coffee concerts,'' book presentations, and other cultural events are regularly held here.

Rembrandt loved to sketch this slightly leaning redbrick tower, which was built in 1516 as part of the city's defenses. In 1606, the Dutch sculptor and architect Hendrick de Keyser oversaw the addition of an octagonal brick superstructure and spire complete with clockworks that was known as Malle Jaap (Crazy Jaap) by locals because the bells pealed at odd times. The year 1610 saw the tower embark on a lean too far, and with lots of manpower and ropes it was reset on a stronger foundation. From 1878 to 2006, it housed the City Water Office. Today it's the office of a company that rents out classic saloon boats (captain included).

Landmarking the eastern corner of the Waterlooplein, this structure once had a warehouse facade to disguise its function as a clandestine Catholic church. If this church could speak, it would name-drop the great philosopher Spinoza (it was built on the location of his birth house) and Franz Liszt (it hosted a recital of his Graner Messe, attended by the Hungarian composer himself). Originally built in the 1640s, it was rebuilt in 1841 by architect T. F. Suys, then refurbished in 1969. The church's popular name (Moses and Aaron) refers to the figures adorning two gable stones of the original edifice, now seen in the rear wall. In a rare move in a rapidly secularizing country where churches are sometimes turned into carpet stores or bowling alleys, the Mozes en Aäronkerk was reconsecrated in 2014, after a hiatus of 34 years. It's used today by the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio.

This is the house that Rembrandt, flush with success, bought for 13,000 guilders (a princely sum) in 1639, and where he lived and worked until 1656, when he declared bankruptcy. The house interior has been restored with elegant contemporaneous furnishings and artwork in the reception rooms—a collection of rarities that match as closely as possible the descriptions in the inventories made when Rembrandt was forced to sell everything—but it doesn't convey much of the humanity of Rembrandt himself. When he left here, he was not only out of money but also out of favor with the city after relationships with servant girls following the death of his wife, Saskia. The little etching studio is perhaps the most atmospheric. Littered with tools of the trade, a printing press, and a line hung with drying prints (there are demonstrations), it's easy to imagine Rembrandt finding respite here, experimenting with form and technique, away from uncomfortable schmoozing for commissions (and loans) in the grander salon. The museum owns a huge collection of etchings (260 of the 290 he made), and a changing selection is on permanent display. His magisterial prints Hundred Guilder and Three Crosses show that Rembrandt was almost more revolutionary in his prints than in his paintings, so this collection deserves respectful homage, if not downright devotion, by printmakers today.

While it's one of the oldest streets in Amsterdam, the Nes may not one of the prettiest, but it's filled with plenty of theaters and restaurants. For two centuries, it was packed with monasteries and convents, until the Alteration (or Protestant changeover) in 1578, which kick-started Amsterdam's march toward the Golden Age. Adjacent to the southern end of the Nes is Gebed Zonder End, the "Prayer Without End" alleyway, which got its name because it was said you could always hear prayers from behind the walls of the convents that used to line the alley. The Frascati Theater (No. 63) began life as a coffeehouse in 1810, but it wasn't until the 1850s that the street really blossomed with cafés filled with dance, song, operetta performances, and vaudeville, the stars of which often represented the less uptight segment of the Jewish community.

Landmarked by its now-famous pair of chiseled spectacles set over the Oudezijds Achterburgwal pediment—a sweet reference to old age—this passage led to an Oudemannenhuis, or pensioners' house, founded in 1602. Today bikes (not canes) are in evidence here, as this former almshouse is now part of the University of Amsterdam. One charming relic from its 18th-century days is the covered walkway, which was once lined with traders selling luxury items, whose rents helped subsidize the elderly. Adorned with red shutters, the stalls now house an array of antiquarian booksellers. Atop the Kloveniersburgwal end stands a group of allegorical figures, sculpted by Anthonie Ziesenis in 1786, representing Mercy with the attributes of Abundance (a horn), Enlightenment (a lamp), and Wisdom (a book) flanked by Old Age and Poverty.

Taking its nickname from the combination of "Stadhuis" (City Hall) and "Opera," this brick-and-marble complex, which opened in 1986, houses both, as well as the Dutch National Ballet and large-scale productions, both domestic and international. Popularly derided by locals for looking like a set of dentures, the colossal white marble tiled building is currently undergoing phased renovations. Before the first brick was in place, locals protested over the razing of historic houses in the old Jewish Quarter and around Nieuwmarkt to make way for it. (In particular, look for the moving memorial that marks the spot of a Jewish orphanage, which honors the saga of how, in 1943, three teachers voluntarily accompanied 100 children to the extermination camp of Sobibor: "None of them returned. May their memory be blessed."). Twice-weekly tours offer a ''behind the scenes look'' at the daily life of set dressers, costume designers, and performers at the National Opera and Theater (Tues. and Sat. from September-June).

As family home to the two Trip brothers, who made their fortune in the arms trade during the 17th-century Golden Age, this noted house's buckshot-gray exterior and various armament motifs—including mortar-shaped chimneys—designed by Justus Vingboons, are easily explained. But the Corinthian-columned facade actually covers two symmetrical buildings (the dividing wall is positioned behind the middle windows), one for each brother, making it the widest residence (at 72 feet) in Amsterdam. From 1817 to 1885 it housed the national museum or Rijksmuseum and is now the home of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Be sure to look across the canal to No. 26, the white building topped with golden sphinxes and dated 1696, which is known as the "Little Trip House." The story goes that Mr. Trip's coachman remarked that he would be happy with a house as wide as the Trippenhuis door. By way of response, Mr. Trip is alleged to have built just that with the leftover bricks. In reality, the domicile was constructed six decades after the Trip mansion, after both of the brothers had already died, possibly as a way to squeeze a house into an existing alleyway. There are a few other very narrow houses in Amsterdam, too: the narrowest rear gable is at Singel 7 at only 3 feet wide, and the building on Oude Hoogstraat 22 is only 7 feet wide and 19 feet deep.

Amsterdam's most famous flea market was once an area bordered by the Leprozengracht (Leper's Canal) and Houtgracht (Wood Canal), which often took the brunt of an overflowing Amstel River; the area also housed only the poorest of the city's Jews. In 1893 it became the daily market for the surrounding neighborhood—a necessity because Jews were not allowed to own shops at the time. It became a meeting place whose chaos of wooden carts and general vibrancy disappeared along with the Jewish population during World War II. And yet it still provides a colorful glimpse into Amsterdam's particular brand of pragmatic sales techniques. The market is currently being renovated, but remains open to the public.

Gorgeous enough to have inspired both Sir Christopher Wren and Claude Monet, this famous church was built between 1603 and 1611 by Hendrick de Keyser, one of the most prolific architects of Holland's Golden Age (he also chose to be buried here). It was one of the earliest churches built in Amsterdam in the Renaissance style and was the first in the city to be built for the (Protestant) Dutch Reformed Church. During the Dutch famine of 1944 (known as the Hunger Winter), it served as a morgue. The church's hallowed floors, under which three of Rembrandt's children are buried, are now rented out as an events and exhibitions venue. The church tower—a soaring accumulation of columns, brackets, and balustrades—is one of the most glorious exclamation points in Amsterdam.