The Munttoren (Mint Tower) is a tower in Amsterdam, located on the busy Muntplein (Mint Square) where the Amstel River and Singel canal meet. It's near the flower market and the eastern end of the Kalverstraat shopping street. Originally part of the Regulierspoort (Reguliers Gate), a main gate in Amsterdam's medieval city wall, the tower was built between 1480 and 1487. After a fire in 1618, only part of the western tower and the gatehouse remained. The tower was rebuilt in the Renaissance s.. Read more »tyle in 1619-1620. Hendrick de Keyser designed the octagonal top, featuring an elegant spire, clock with four faces, and a carillon. A golden bull weather vane, a reminder of the 15th-century cattle market once held nearby, adorns the tower. The tower took its current name from its temporary 17th-century use as a mint. The gatehouse, largely unscathed by the 1618 fire, was replaced by a neo-Renaissance structure in 1885-1887. Pieter Hemony created the carillon in 1668, adding new bells to a mechanism he and his brother, François, made in 1651 for the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Damaged bells were replaced in 1959 and 1993, resulting in the current carillon of 38 bells. The bells chime every quarter hour, and on Saturdays between 2 and 3 pm, the Amsterdam carillonneur gives a concert.
Netherlands
