There are over 250 bridges in Amsterdams city center. Many have quite special names, some dating back centuries. Examples include the Kortjewantsbrug, Scharrebiersluis, Bullebaksluis, and Bullebak. But how did these bridges get their names?
The Scharrebiersluis is a drawbridge between Rapenburgerplein and Foeliedwarsstraat. Amsterdam is the city of beer and brewers, home to Mannenliefde, Oedipus, and IJwit, and of course the famous Heineken on tap. But you wont often order a scharrebiertje in a café. Scharrebier is thin beer, or as Amsterdammers would say: flat beer. The English might like it, but here in Amsterdam, we dont. Yet we named a bridge after it.
Mediocre Beer
Scharre is believed to derive from the Middle Dutch scherve, meaning shard, wrote professor Jozef Vercouille in 1925. A shard was once half a penny: incomplete and thus of lesser quality. Just like scharrebier is of inferior quality. Because scharrebier was diluted with water, less tax had to be paid on the beer. A scharrebiertje could therefore be sold cheaper and was the beer for people with little money. At the lock, skippers waiting to pass would buy cheap beer of mediocre quality. Scharrebier.
Café
For a bridge located in the city center, the bridge is relatively young. The connection between Rapenburg and Kadijk was only built in the 19th century. Today, not only the bridge reminds of the flat beer: the former Café Keijser at Rapenburgerplein next to the bridge has been named Café Scharrebier since 1990.
Amsterdam Bridge from Rotterdam
The Kortjewantsbrug, which connects the Schippersgracht and Kadijksplein, is a concrete giant weighing over 130 tons. The massive structure was made in Rotterdam and transported by ship from the Maas city to Amsterdam. It is a special bridge, with a basement where music concerts are held. And a pedestrian tunnel that is no longer in use but still accessible to the public.
Bridge with a Hole
Although the bridge is quite young – it was placed in 1966 – the origin of the bridges name goes back several centuries. In the 17th century, there was an oorgatbrug (ear-hole bridge) at the same location. This is one of the smallest movable bridges, consisting of two sloping bridge parts with a piece of roadway about one meter wide in the middle. That roadway could open, creating a small passage, the oorgat (ear hole). Boats could pass under the bridge without lowering their masts.
Shorten Your Rope
The oorgat was quite narrow, no more than a meter wide, causing the rigging of boats to sometimes get tangled. That rigging was called a want. Therefore, the bridge keeper would shout Kort je want! (shorten your rope) when boats passed by. The bridge got its name from this.
The Devil or the Bullebak
The bullebak was an icy water ghost living in the canals of the Jordaan. It had fiery eyes and would roar fiercely during storms. Unsuspecting children playing on the canal banks were mercilessly pulled into the depths of the water, while parents watched helplessly. It was the devil, or the bulleback, wrote Gerard Adriaenszoon Bredero in his play De Spaanse Brabander. The water monster was the terror of Amsterdam and surroundings. The story of the bullebak was apparently so scary that not one but two bridges were named after it: the Bullebaksluis at the end of the Bloemgracht and the Bullebak at the end of the Brouwersgracht.
Who Was Mister Bullebak?
Texts and city descriptions show that the Bullebaksluis has been called that since at least 1613. Head teacher Jan ter Gouw wrote in 1874 about the Bullebaksluis and the associated water ghost:
Who was Mister Bullebak? A creature from medieval mythology, whose terror was still among the people in the 17th and even 18th centuries. It was a dreadful water ghost living in deep pools, always lurking to grab the careless who ventured too close to the edge by the legs and drag them into the depths.
This lock vault was also considered a hiding place for the Bullebak: on dark evenings one could hear it roar and the water rustle from its turmoil; yes, there were people who saw its head with fiery eyes peeking over the lock door. Of course, when the quay and vault were demolished, the Bullebak moved away, though no one knows where to.
The Bullebak of the Brouwersgracht got this name much later. Perhaps the water ghost moved there in the 18th century when the quay at the Bloemgracht was demolished. Waiting to haunt again. Watching over playing children.
Photos: Amsterdam City Archives
This article was previously published on amsterdam.nl.
