De houten eeuw van Amsterdam: bouwen, werken en wonen in de middeleeuwse stad 1275-1578

Abstract

In 2025 we will celebrate the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam. During that long period, the city has continuously expanded and changed. The reconstruction after the last major city fire of 1452 has probably been the most decisive for what the city center looks like today. The choices from the Middle Ages form the basis of Amsterdam's current built heritage. But unlike the seventeenth century and later, much less is known and researched about early Amsterdam. Gabri van Tussenbroek offers for the first time a systematic overview of the spatial development of the city in the Middle Ages from an integrated historical, building-historical and archaeological perspective. Van Tussenbroek describes an overcrowded city where thousands of Amsterdammers and immigrants sought a place, where every square meter was coveted and where the city council was constantly trying to keep order. 'The Wooden Age of Amsterdam' discloses about seventy years of building history research in Amsterdam, carried out in the context of demolition, renovations, infrastructural interventions and other spatial developments. The result is a richly illustrated standard work for anyone who wants to know something about Amsterdam before the seventeenth century.