Geen categorie
Why Vijzelstraat Has Nothing to Do with Mortars
Walking through Amsterdam’s Vijzelstraat, you might expect to find an old herbalist with a giant mortar and pestle in the window. But nothing could be further from the truth: the name has absolutely nothing to do with kitchen tools. In fact, it refers to two 17th-century residents: Cornelis Arents Vijselaar and Jan Vijselaar. They lived in the area around 1600 and 1632, when this part of town was part of Amsterdam’s Second Expansion. The name ‘Vijzelstraat’ was officially adopted on December 23, 1874.
