Dinner
On thursday night, directly following the program there will be a bus taking the participants to 'De Waag' (The Weigh House) for an informal course dinner in the Medieval city center. De Waag is on walking distance of the hotels.
‘De Waag’ or ‘the Weigh House’ was built in 1488 as one of Amsterdam’s city gates, St. Anthony’s Port. In 1601 the city’s walls were torn down to allow Amsterdam to expand further. St. Anthony’s Port remained standing, although it was now redundant. In 1617 the former city gate was provided with a new function: that of a weight house. A new function was also found for the upper floors of the city gate. The largest room became the guardroom of one of the city’s militia companies. The other rooms were assigned to various guilds. Each guild was given its own entrance. All kind of details on the outside walls recall this period, such as above the door leading to the surgeons’ guild the inscription; theatrum anatomicum. This amphitheatre was built by the surgeons’ guild for anatomical lectures. In the centre stood a dissection table on which the corpse of a recently executed criminal could be cut up. These demonstrations were open to the public and proved immensely popular in Amsterdam.
