De Amersfoortse Kei
In my travel through Jordan in 2007 I met Reza (not a TB-member). He lives in Amersfoort The Netherlands. Since then we meet every half year to catch up. In August it was time for me to visit him in his city. I also grabbed my camera, this city celebrates 750 city rights this year. Reza showed me besides the city also the famous Koppelpoort and the Amersfoortse kei.
Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly and has a well-preserved medieval core. It takes less than an hour for me to get from Den Bosch to Amersfoort, but from Amsterdam it is half an our. The city has about 140,000 inhabitants. Amersfoort is named after a ford in the Amer River, now called the Eem.
Amersfoort view
In 1028 the village Amersfoort arose near the Amer. The village grew around what is now known as the central square, the "Hof", where the Bishops of Utrecht established a court in order to control the "Gelderse vallei" area. It was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht Hendrik van Vianden, and now (in 2009) festivals are taking place for being 750 years being a city. A first defensive wall, made out of brick, was finished around 1300. Soon after, the need for enlargement of the city became apparent and around 1380 the construction of a new wall was begun and completed around 1450. The famous Koppelpoort, a combined land and water gate, is part of this second wall. The first wall nowdays is demolished and houses were built in its place.
Koppelpoort
The nickname for this city is the Kei-stad or Boulder-city, because of the Amersfoortse Kei was now is visable at the city-ring.
The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren tower (The Tower of Our Lady) is one of the tallest medieval church towers in the Netherlands at 98 metres. The construction of the tower and the church dates from 1444. The inner city of Amersfoort has been preserved very well since the Middle Ages. The canal-system with its bridged, as well as medieval and other old buildings in the inner city are well-preserved and mostly designated as national monuments. Also museums are present in this city, for instance the Pieter Mondriaan museum in his old birth house. But the city is also ideal for shopping, taking a beer in the squares and eating in one of the restaurants which easily can be found in the city heart.
Amersfoortse kei
The nickname of Amersfoort is the 'keistad' or 'boulder city' because of this boulder which now is visable in the city ring near the Arnhemseweg. This 9-tons boulder (kei) was dragged from the Utrechtse Heuvelrug moors (near Soest) into the city in 1661 by 400 people because of a bet between two landowners. The people got their reward when the winner bought everyone beer and pretzels. Other nearby towns then nicknamed the people of Amersfoort Keientrekker (boulder-dragger or puller). This story embarrassed the inhabitants, and they buried the boulder under the city in 1672. Surprisingly the boulder showed up again in 1903 during construction work. It quickly became the proud of Amersfoort, and was placed in a prominent spot as a monument.
Amersfoortse kei
Amersfoortse kei
Koppelpoort
The Koppelpoort is a medieval gate in Amersfoort. It was constructed in 1427 as part of the second city wall. The poort is a sublime example of medieval defensive architecture, and still is a combination of a land and water-gate. In the same year of construction (1427) the city was attackted. When the men defented the city, also the women threw hot beer from the Koppelpoort and the enemy was pushed back. Later it became more usefull as watergate for the Amers (later called Eems) river. When the defence walls were broken down in 1840 it was expected the Koppelpoort also lost his function. But Amersfoort decided to keep the old gate and restaured it in 1886. The last restaurations in 1996 were so succesfull the Koppelpoort was won the Europe Nostra Award, because during the restaurations almost every character of the medieval gate was preserved.
Koppelpoort
Koppelpoort
