page_title: Walls of Amsterdam
section_title: Bastions
hierarchical_section_title: Walls of Amsterdam / History / Bastions
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: De Utrechtsepoort, gezien van de overzijde van de Singelgracht. Links op de voorgrond zijn wasvrouwen aan het werk. Litho met steunkleuren, handgekleurd.
context_page_description: The walls of Amsterdam were built in the Middle Ages to protect the city against attack. The Medieval walls were replaced with a series of bastions in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the walls were torn down and replaced with the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a fortification line which encircled Amsterdam at a distance from the city.
  Remains of the Medieval and 17th-century defenses include the former city gates Waag and Munttoren, as well as the defensive tower Schreierstoren and the watchtower Montelbaanstoren.
context_section_description: During the 17th century, the city expanded rapidly. To protect the grand new grachtengordel (the concentric belt of canals), a system of 26 bastions was constructed along the Singelgracht canal.
  Immediately following the Alteratie in 1578, the city began to strengthen the weak spots in its defenses. For instance, a bastion was constructed by the Haarlemmerpoort gate, which at that time lay near Herenmarkt square. William of Orange ordered the fortifications engineer Adriaen Anthonisz to Amsterdam in 1581 in order to oversee the construction of the new defensive works.
  In 1585, the city government decided to construct new earthen walls with 11 bastions beyond the existing walls. The city was expanding so rapidly that the area between the old and new walls was filled with new houses within a matter of a few years. In 1613 it was decided to construct new defensive walls with bastions on the western side of town, along the current Marnixstraat and Weteringschans streets, with a new outer moat (the Buitensingel, now Singelgracht) and inner moat (the Lijnbaansgracht). Within these new walls, the grachtengordel (the concentric belt of canals) could now be constructed.
  Amsterdam in 1657 began to construct fortifications to protect its fourth and largest 17th-century city expansion. This was one of the most ambitious construction projects undertaken in the 17th-century Dutch republic. Supporting the heavy walls on the porous Amsterdam soil required large numbers of deep foundation piles and retaining walls. Thousands of labourers transported soil and sand from the dunes and the Gooi using carts and wheelbarrows. Kilometers of retaining walls were built, canals were dug, and bridges and sluice gates were constructed. Around 1663, the massive project was complete.
  The walls rested on a nine metres deep wooden floor, supported by over 100,000 piles with crossbeams. On the top of the wooden floor, brick arches were built. Each bastion had 44 arches and each curtain wall had 47 arches. The arches were then covered with soil, and the walls were covered with stone. The walls were supported by 14 kilometres of retaining walls to prevent the soil from sinking away.
  The fortifications consisted of 26 bastions in total. In the flanks of these bastions were casemates with cannon and munition. Windmills were placed on top of most of the bastions.
  There were five main gates in the 17th-century fortifications:
  Haarlemmerpoort
  Leidsepoort
  Utrechtsepoort
  Weesperpoort
  Muiderpoort
  In addition, there were several smaller gates:
  Weteringpoort
  Raampoort
  Zaagmolenpoort
  The city walls were never seriously put to the test. During the Rampjaar of 1672, the Dutch Water Line proved sufficient to stop the invading French troops from taking Amsterdam. The fortifications were neglected and began to decay. In 1769, for instance, the Muiderpoort gate collapsed, and in 1794, part of the Reguliersbolwerk bastion sank into the canal. Following the Napoleonic era, the bastions were turned into a park area. A path was constructed along the top of the bastions so that the citizens of Amsterdam could go for a leisurely stroll. In the period 1839-1848, the city defenses were gradually demolished. The final remaining curtain wall, between the bastions Rijkeroord and Slotermeer, was demolished in 1862 and replaced with a path for strolling. The gates were left standing but were repurposed as offices for tax collection.
  During the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 19th century, the city started expanding beyond its 17th-century walls. The former bastions, now an area of recreation, were largely replaced with new buildings, and the Singelgracht canal was straightened; the bastions which had once jutted out were now no longer visible.
caption: A colored lithograph of the Utrechtsepoort by Willem Hekking, July 1858. This gate was located on the south side of what is now the Frederiksplein.
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