Parking in a castle
Deep underground, on the building site of the car park we now know as Q-Park Nieuwendijk, the archaeological service of the city council discovered a centuries-old structure in March 1994. The building is remarkably small, with walls roughly 20 to 25 metres long, broken up by towers. Experts estimate that it was built in the early or mid 13th century. That makes it, at a stroke, the oldest man-made structure in Amsterdam.
Not 100% certain
The structure is regarded as the most important archaeological find ever made in Amsterdam. The city archaeologist, Baart, is 99% sure that this is the castle of the Lords of Aemstel. And yet there is a heated debate among experts about what exactly the structure is and who built it. Open days are organised on which Amsterdammers can peer into the building pit and admire the west wall with its north-western corner tower, resting on a foundation of oak beams.
Covered over
After a while, construction of the car park had to resume. Archaeologists still tried to keep the centuries-old structure permanently accessible and to integrate it into the design of the car park, but this proved too complex. And so the oldest structure in Amsterdam disappeared underground once more.
Unfortunately...
The question of whether this really was the castle of the Lords of Aemstel, however, remained unanswered at the time. Archaeologists stayed intrigued by the structure and carried out further excavations on the site in 1999, 2002 and 2006, where it is only partly accessible via a purpose-built tunnel. Areas that could not be reached were mapped with a special radar. Eventually the decisive answer came: it is most probably a defensive work, built by Floris V. The foundation of the building dates from the period 1280 to 1290. At that time the last Van Aemstel was in prison, or had only just been released. So although this is certainly the oldest structure in Amsterdam, it is not that legendary castle...
