Gouda

Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes and its 15th century town hall. The Sint Janskerk has the most significant stained glass in the Netherlands. The town takes its name from the Van der Goude family, who built a fortified castle alongside the banks of the Gouwe River.
By 1225, a canal was linked to the Gouwe and its estuary was transformed into a harbor.Cheese has been traded for over 300 years in the Markt, which is also known for its world-famous City Hall. On Thursday morning cheese farmers from all over the district used to come to Gouda in their cheese brakes. In the nearby Tiendeweg the horses were unharnessed, after which the brake was pushed by hand to the Markt, where the farmer was assigned a place by the market superintendent and bargaining could take off. When a cheese trader approached a brake, the farmer removed his tarpaulin and started bargaining. After the lot was sold the brake left for the Kaaswaag for the cheese to be weighed. The trader paid the farmer according to the weighing slip he received. Most of the time payment was made in the beer house at the end of the market day. You can watch this every Thursday from late June till early September.
31 October 1667 was the date of the decision to build De Waag, which was commissioned to the famous architect Pieter Post.Trading goods supplied were weighed on the ground floor, after which they were taxed according to the weighing outcome. From 1850 onward only cheeses were admitted for weighing.