The Muiderpoort, the Munttoren and De Waag on the Nieuwmarkt are examples of still standing city gates in Amsterdam. The center used to have more of these structures, but they have disappeared over time. These historic gates cannot be found in Amsterdam Noord, as this part of the city was developed much later. Artist Marcel Smink changed this in 1999, with the artwork Poort van Nieuwendam (Gate of Nieuwendam), located along the Zuiderzeeweg, near the Schellingwouder Bridge over the IJ river.
There are no city gates in Nieuwendam, but there are many so called gate houses, built in the 1920s. The design of Sminks gate refers to this. The artwork consists of a curve constructed of concrete, “paved” with paving bricks. The sculpture almost disappeared in 2011, due to a change in the road network around the A10. At the artist’s insistence, the gate was moved anyway. “It now stands much more prominently against the road than it was originally placed. It is much improved because it confronts more than it did,” Smink said in a Public Art Amsterdam article.
Image: Buitenkunst Amsterdam
