Montelbaanstoren (hard name to spell) is a red brick tower typical to those seen in Amsterdam. While taking the mandatory boat cruise on the canals you can't miss that tower and you might wonder what's it's story. Well, the tower was built back in 1512 purely for defence reasons. It was to protect the Latage, the basin for repairing and storing big Dutch ships. In 1606, Hendrick de Keyser added it's spire (the upper part). Today the tower houses the offices in charge of the closing of canals and water flow in Amsterdam. The funny thing that this tower was called "Crazy Jake" because the tower clock chowned the wrong time and long time masters could do nothing about it.
The cities of Medieval Europe were at constant risk of pillage and plunder, so a number of them surrounded themselves with tall walls in an effort to protect against invaders. Towers were also constructed at strategic locations along the walls where guards would stand on constant lookout for approaching enemies.
One such wall was built around the city of Amsterdam, a popular target for plunder due to its status as one of Europe's wealthiest ship-building and trading ports. Today, only bits and pieces of Amsterdam's wall remain, most notably the Montelbaanstoren tower. The Montelbaanstoren was constructed way back in 1512 beside one of Amsterdam's famous canals, and today she is not only still standing, she is still in service as the city's Water Office.
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