Sights of Interest in Edam

Dam Square This is considered to be the centre of the town. lf you orientate yourself with the Carillon as west, you can see to the north of the Dam, Edam's oldest brick house, the museum. The DAM, incorporating lock gates, was built in 1544 on the orders of Emperor Karel V.  After man...

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The City Hall The City Hall (Tourist Information Building - Museum) The entrance, with the heavy double doors and the surrounds of sand stone, are in Louis XIV style. The coat-of-arms of Edam stands above the doorway and the beautiful wooden tower give it a light-hearted element. The beautifully painted former Magistrate's Court, to the left, is often open to the public. It is still in active use for marriage ceremonies. Lady Justitia surveys the procee...

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Edam Museum On the other side of the Dam is Edam's oldest brick house. It was built in or around 1530 as a private house and was furnished as museum in 1895. This step gable gets its late gothic character from the use of natural stone, the profile of the pinnacles and its asymmetry. However, other details have obviously been influenced by the later renaissance period. The value of this museum is that you can see inside the typical construction of...

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The Oldest Wooden House Next to the bakery, on the corner of the BREESTRAAT is the famous Oldest Wooden House of Edam. The lintel of the door is decorated with a late gothic accolade and rosettes, which are an indication that the building dates from around 1530. Except for one stone room at the back, the rest of the house is built completely of wood and the facade is virtually original. Special features are the w...

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Great Church or St. Nicolaas Church This Great Church, of cathedral dimensions, is one of Edam's proudest possessions. Its latest restoration took as long as 18 years, being eventually completed in 1980. It is not known exactly when the church was founded, but it was definitely after the Kleine Kerk and probably at the beginning of the 15th century. ...

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Kwakelbrug (Draw Bridge) At the well-known KWAKEL-BRUG you can find an unforgettable view of the old wharf, the piece of water called "Boeren verdriet" (Farmers' Lament - because their barges often got stuck there) and, of course, the Carillon. The construction of this bridge is interesting: the counter-balanced overhead section is connected to the...

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Bult Bult means "bump" and this slightly raised area is thought to be the oldest part of Edam, although it is difficult to tell it from the buildings. This stream was the original River Ye. To the left there is a pretty view of the southern city wall and to the right you can see a very old shipswharf which still repairs, among other things, the traditional wooden ships like the ones y...

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Cheese Market Cheese was sold here in a colourful manner, with straw-hatted cheese bearers and wooden "stretchers" to carry the cheese, from about 1778 until 1922. Especially for the tourists this old tradition is restored during the summer months. The CHEESE WEIGH HOUSE dates, as can be seen from the brightly painted facade, from 1778. ...

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The Cheese Weigh House On April 16th Edam received the rights for a weekly market and (waag)from Emperor Karel V. Edam had to pay f 90,- per year for these rights. On March the 2nd the people of the Cheese Weigh House bought this right, by paying f. 10,- a year. With an interruption between 1745 and 1775, the Chees Market was helt until 1922. The building dates from 1778. ...

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Cheese tasting in -de koophandel- Traditional Dutch cheese warehouse. On a picturesque canal in Edam, behind a row of historical façades, lie the 18the century cheese warehouses. These attractively restored cheese warehouses have bell gables and are also in Louis XIV style. Although no cheese is made on farms in Edam any more, a lot of the factory-made cheese is brought back to Edam for st...

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Gemeenlandshuis This is the building of the 'Hoogheemraadschap van de Uitwaterende Sluizen', built in 1785. This legislative body has been controlling the water levels of North Holland for more than 400 years. Now the task of the Hoogheemraadschap encompasses the purification of waste water and the quality control of surface- and drinking water. ...

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Carillon There are records of a Church, formerly called the Church of Our Dear Lady, on this site since 1350 and the tower itself dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. The nave was demolished in 1882, but the slender late-gothic Carillon tower still gives Edam a delightful silhouette. The famous bells, protruding from the open lantern, were made in 1566 by Pieter van den Ghein. They play a short melody every quarter of an ho...

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Proveniershof The Proveniershof or Proeve is an group of alms houses set up in 1555 bij Jan Claeszoon Brouwer on the site of the houses of the Beguines, a sisterhood of nurses. The two wings of the building date mostly from the 17th century, although at a later date a fair amount of changes were brought about. The small bleaching field of the Beguines has now been changed into a superb courtyard garden, always a mass of colourful flowers....

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