Diving Into the History of Amsterdam’s Canals

Rijksmuseum “The Bend in the Herengracht Seen From the Vijzelstraat,” by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde, part of the “Amsterdam’s Canal Belt” exhibition at the Rijksmuseum.

In the 17th century, Amsterdam was a growing city. Foreign adventures and the colonial wealth they brought with them enriched a merchant class eager to display its might with opulent new homes outside the city’s inner core. The result was Amsterdam’s Grachtengordel, or canal belt. Three canals — the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht — saw a building frenzy that created what is now one of the city’s most popular destinations.
If you’re coming to Amsterdam and are enamored of architecture, the canal belt is where you will be spending much of your time. A visit to a current exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, then, is a useful primer.
“Amsterdam’s Canal Belt,”which runs through Sept. 6 at the museum (Hobbemastraat 21; 31-20-674-7000;Rijksmuseum is a small but information-packed show that pairs paintings and drawings of the canals, made as the ring was being developed, with a healthy dose of background on the Grachtengordel’s evolution.
The paintings are straightforward and mostly focus on the Herengracht’s “Golden Bend,” along which the most opulent buildings were constructed. They aimed to depict their subject in all its splendor — you could almost see them passing as the 17th-century equivalent of real estate advertisements.
Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde’s “The Bend in the Herengracht Seen From the Vijzelstraat,” above, an oil painting dating to around 1672, depicts freshly minted buildings under sharp blue skies, the bend of the canal framed by stark interplays of shadow and light.
And Hendrik de Leth’s 1730 print, “View of Herengracht Looking Towards Spiegelstraat and Vijzelstraat,” is fun for both its depiction of street life and for the buildings themselves: well-appointed burghers on stoops watch the gentry flow by on foot and in horse buggies, under lines of trees over a placid canal.