Nieuwmarkt grew around the Waag, a former city gate that became a public weighing house. The square’s changing uses—from trade to wartime persecution to modern protest—make it one of Amsterdam’s most layered public spaces.
Quick facts
The Waag began as Amsterdam’s Sint Anthoniespoort, built in 1488; after the city expanded, it became a weighing house for goods including ship anchors and artillery.
During the German occupation, Nieuwmarkt lay inside the Amsterdam Jewish Quarter: the area was enclosed with barbed wire, and the Amsterdam City Archives says Jews were assembled on the square for deportation.
In 1975, residents and activists confronted plans for metro-related demolition; Amsterdam’s account says campaigners helped stop a planned four-lane road and secured housing above the metro route.
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Nieuwmarkt is a public square in Amsterdam’s old center, and the Waag at its heart makes the city’s growth visible. In 1488, this building began as the Sint Anthoniespoort, an eastern gate in Amsterdam’s defensive wall. When the city extended beyond the gate, the structure became part of the interior city. Its courtyard was covered, its military function gave way to weighing and guild activity, and the canal edges around it were altered to create a market square.
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