Amsterdam - Herengracht

The origins of the Herengracht go back to the year 1612, when a plan to create a girdle of canals (Heren- Keizers- and Prinzengracht) was made. The project was completed in 1658. In Amsterdam's heyday (second half of 17th C.) the Herengracht was the most elegant residential district. To live here was so popular that the magistrate had to confine the width of the aristocrats' houses to 8 m, but of course there were exceptions, such as the "House for a Prince" (No. 54). Behind the aristocratic houses with their magnificent facade (no fewer than 400 houses in the Herengracht are protected monuments), beautiful gardens were concealed, each of them exactly 51·5 m (169ft.) long. The layout of these gardens represented unbelievable luxury for a town which was on piles. A law declared that they could not be built on, an exception, however, was made for summer-houses and coach-houses. The "golden bocht", the golden arc of the Herengracht, with houses numbered 464-436 (between Vijzelstraat an Leidestraat) is especially noteworthy for its magnificently decorated houses. No. 527 Herengracht, built in 1667, has an interesting history; Tsar Peter the Great of Russia lived here during a visit to Holland. Today the patrician houses are mostly occupied by banks and offices or are used as museum buildings; they have become too large and too expensive to be used as dwellings. Here can be found the Theatrical Museum and the Willet Holthuysen Museum and also, at No. 470, the Goethe Institute.