Dam Square grew from a dam across the Amstel and the civic space beside Amsterdam’s town hall. Once a waterside market, it now links the former town hall, today’s Royal Palace, with the National Monument, placing trade, authority, remembrance and protest in one busy public space.
Quick facts
Residents built a dam across the Amstel around 1260; a 1275 toll privilege is the first surviving document to name Amsterdam.
The Dam’s historic fish market was moved in 1841, and the Beurs van Zocher was built on its former site.
The National Monument on the Dam was unveiled on 4 May 1956 and commemorates victims of war and peacekeeping missions.
Get directions to Dam Square. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
Dam Square began as infrastructure. Around 1260, residents built a dam across the Amstel near its mouth at the IJ. It joined settlements on both banks and made a broader, drier place where people could meet and trade. A toll privilege issued by Count Floris V in 1275 is the first surviving document to name Amsterdam. It allowed people living at the dam to move goods within Holland without paying toll.
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