Edam

The City Hall
The entrance, with the heavy double doors and the surrounds of sand stone, are in Louis XIV style. The coat-of-arms of Edam stands above the doorway and the beautiful wooden tower gives it a light-hearted element.

The Dam
The Dam, incorporating lock gates, was built in 1544 on the orders of Emperor Charles V. After many years of disputes over the locks, they finally accepted responsibility for their upkeep in 1701 and, to mark this event, two coats of arms were placed in the quay side.
On the southern side of the Hoogheemraadschap and on the other side those of the then dike reeve (the officer in charge). After completion of the new sea locks in 1829, the Dam sluice became superfluous and the lock gates were removed.

Museum
On the other side of the Dam is Edam's oldest brick house, built in or around 1530 as a private house and furnished as museum in 1895. This step gable gets its late gothic character from the use of natural stone, the profile of the pinnacles and its asymmetry.
You can see inside the typical construction of this type of Dutch house i.e. a very heavy oak skeleton consisting of uprights, main beams supported by corbel blocks, or brackets, key pieces and smaller cross beams.