Schreierstoren

In front of you is the only defensive tower left from Amsterdam's medieval city wall. It was completed around 1487, at the point where the wall looked out over the IJ, the arm of the sea that was then the city's harbour. Today the water is some distance away, but picture the quays beginning right here.

1The port of the world

In time the wall lost its purpose, and the tower was left watching the shipping traffic. Many expeditions set out from this quay. A stone above the entrance commemorates the first voyage to the East Indies, in 1595, which paved the way for the East India Company.

2Henry Hudson and New York

The most famous plaque, put up in 1927, recalls that on 4 April 1609 the English navigator Henry Hudson sailed from here aboard the Halve Maen, in the service of the East India Company. He was looking for a northern route to Asia. He never found it, but he explored the river that now bears his name. A few years later the Dutch founded New Amsterdam there, the future New York.

A tower in a small city, tied to the birth of one of the greatest metropolises on earth.

Until 1960 the tower served as a harbour office. Since its restoration in 1966 it has housed a café and a shop selling nautical charts, which suits the place perfectly.

3What to look out for

• The Henry Hudson plaque, on the side facing the water.
• The 1595 stone above the door, with the Latin motto 'navigare necesse est'.
• The thickness of the walls, a giveaway of its military origins.