The Oudezijdsvoorburgwal, often abbreviated to OZ Voorburgwal, is a street and canal in the Red Light District in the center of Amsterdam . The OZ Voorburgwal runs from the Grimburgwal in the south to the Sea Wall in the north, where he becomes the Oudezijds Kolk , Load on the IJ . The OZ Voorburgwal is rich in contrasts. On the one hand it is one of the most famous streets of the Red Light District, full of sex shops, window prostitutes, peep shows , brothels , bars and coffee shops ( The Bulldog is here even more affiliates and a hotel ). On the other hand, it is full of monumental canal houses from the Golden Age and the remains of the many monasteries here in the Middle Ages were. In the 17th and 18th century canal usually called the Velvet Burgwal. The bridge over the OZ Voorburgwal between Damstraat and Old Doelstraat is a clear dividing line between the northern Wall Part noisy and the quiet southern part. Originally the OZ Voorburgwal was a creek which was further excavated a canal to the eastern part of the city, the old side. For 1385 shared the Amstel Amsterdam city into two almost equal parts, the old side of the Old Church and the new side with the New Church . To protect the city was one on each side behind a moat ramparts, an earthen rampart , with a wooden palisade to foreclosure. Then behind these walls around 1385 new walls were built, the existing Voorburgwal the shore and the new shore Achterburgwal, both the old and the new side. Thus arose the Oudezijdsvoorburgwal, Oudezijdsachterburgwal , Nieuwezijdsvoorburgwal and Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal (now Spuistraat ). In the construction of the buildings on the Oudezijdsvoorburgwal were moat gardens built behind the mansions. Today they are almost all gone.
