Gracht is canal. This canal is named after the Reguliers monastery that from 1394 through 1592 stood just outside the city limits. The Reguliersklooster was approximately at the current intersection of Keizersgracht and Utrechtsestraat. This monastery was home to 'canons regular' (Dutch: reguliere kanunnik) — a canon being a type of priest in the Catholic Church. Canons live in community under a rule (Latin: regula).  Many street names in the neighborhood remind us of the reguliers. And Rembrandtplein started life as Reguliersplein. But even most Amsterdammers don't know that the nearby Munttoren was once part of the Regulierspoort (gate), in its time one of the three major gates in the city's medieval city wall.