Schreierstoren
The Schreierstoren is a former defense tower in Amsterdam , which used to be part of the city wall . The tower was built around 1487 on the corner between the IJ and the east side of the city. It is the only defense tower in Amsterdam that has survived today.
The tower was previously called Schrayershoucktoren , because the city wall took a sharp corner here (from schray "sharp"). The tower is said to have got its current name because this is where the women of the Dutch East India Company said goodbye to their men when they embarked on long and dangerous voyages of discovery. Scream can be translated here as "crying". Today we know that this story is pure invention.
The city wall ran along the harbor and the Prins Hendrikkade across the square where Amsterdam Centraal train station is today. At Schreierstoren the wall turned sharply to the southwest, where it continued along what was then the Stadsgracht (today's Geldersekade ) to the city scales on the Nieuwmarkt . In the sea wall along the Geldersekade, remnants of the city wall can still be seen today as large blocks of sandstone .
When the tower lost its defensive function, it was still used as a harbor master's office for some time. From around 1960 the harbor master lived in the tower.
In 1966 the tower was restored. The battlements that could be seen on old drawings were not restored as no evidence could be found in the building itself that the tower ever owned them. Since the restoration there has been a café in the building. A ship ticket and ship book trade is operated on the upper floor.
A plaque was placed on the northeast side of the tower in September 1927 to commemorate the voyage of Henry Hudson , who set sail from here on April 4, 1609 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to find a western passage to India . It was installed on the initiative of the Greenwich Village Historical Society , based in New York .
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Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 35 ″ N , 4 ° 54 ′ 9 ″ E