Mint Tower
The Munttoren, or Mint Tower, is the kind of Amsterdam landmark where civic infrastructure and everyday commerce share the same stone. The tower stands on Muntplein, at the meeting of the Amstel river and the Singel canal near the eastern end of Kalverstraat, and it was originally part of the Regulierspoort, a major medieval city-wall gate built in 1480. That gate was damaged in a fire in 1618, and what remains gets rebuilt in Amsterdam Renaissance style in 1620 by Hendrick de Keyser, with an eight-sided top and a spire designed to carry a clockwork of four clockfaces and a carillon of bells. Its “mint” name points to function: in 1672, during the Rampjaar, the guard house was temporarily used to mint coins when silver and gold couldn’t be moved safely to Dordrecht and Enkhuizen. The present guard house is a 19th-century Neo-Renaissance replacement from 1885 to 1887, by Willem Springer, and a 1938–1939 renovation added an underpass. …
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