Amsterdam’s ‘House of Weights’, known locally as De Waag, is a remarkable monument situated on the Nieuwmarkt.
From Theatrum Anatomicum to restaurant
Originally one of Amsterdam’s three city gates when built in 1488, it was transformed into a weighing house when the city expanded in the 1600s and the name stuck. A number of guilds were based within the building and, perhaps most famously, it housed the Theatrum Anatomicum, in which the Surgeons’ Guild would perform their annual public dissection. Such a scene was captured in one of Rembrandt’s most renowned paintings: ‘The Anatomical Lessons of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’.
In the 19th century the building served as a municipal fencing hall, fire station and archive. But after a major restoration and reconstruction in 1996, De Waag’s upper levels became home to the Waag Society (an institute for art, science & technology), while Restaurant-café In de Waag dominates the ground floor, offering a fantastic dining experience in an atmospheric space lit by 300 candles.
