Dutch Word of the Day
gracht
KHRAHKHT
Amsterdam's famous ring of canals — the grachtengordel — was dug between 1613 and 1663, one of the largest urban planning projects in history. The city expanded outward in concentric rings: the Herengracht (Gentlemen's Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal), and Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal).
Each gracht was lined with warehouses and merchants' houses. Goods from the spice trade, the Baltic, and the New World passed through these waterways. The narrow canal houses you see today were built tall and thin because property tax was calculated by street frontage — so merchants went vertical, installing hooks at the top to haul goods up to their attic storerooms.
Today, Amsterdam has 165 canals stretching over 100 kilometres. The grachtengordel was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.
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