5 Best Sights in Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam

Rembrandt loved to sketch this slightly leaning redbrick tower, which was built in 1516 as part of the city's defenses. In 1606, the Dutch sculptor and architect Hendrick de Keyser oversaw the addition of an octagonal brick superstructure and spire complete with clockworks that was known as Malle Jaap (Crazy Jaap) by locals because the bells pealed at odd times. The year 1610 saw the tower embark on a lean too far, and with lots of manpower and ropes it was reset on a stronger foundation. From 1878 to 2006, it housed the City Water Office. Today it's the office of a company that rents out classic saloon boats (captain included).

Built in 1488, the Waag functioned as a city gate, Sint Antoniespoort, until 1617. It would be closed at exactly 9:30 pm to keep out not only bandits but also the poor and diseased who squatted outside the city's walls. When Amsterdam expanded, the structure began a second life as a weigh house for incoming goods. The top floor of the building accommodated the municipal militia and several guilds, including the stonemasons, who did the evocative decorations that grace each of the seven towers' entrances. One tower housed a teaching hospital for the Surgeons' Guild. The Theatrum Anatomicum (Anatomy Theater), with its cupola tower covered in painted coats of arms, was the first place in the Netherlands to host public autopsies; for obvious reasons, these took place only in the winter. The building is now occupied by Restaurant-Café In De Waag and the Waag Society (Institute for Art, Science, and Technology).

Jewish financier, economist, and scholar Isaac de Pinto was a significant investor in the Dutch East Indies Company and bought this house in 1651. It was grandly renovated in the style of Dutch Classicism by his son, together with architect Elias Bouwman, in the 1680s. In the 1960s it was almost demolished so that the street could be widened, but activists saved the building. The restored interior features recent additions, such as beautiful painted ceilings and by the entrance, a little cherub reading a book, a reference to the building's current manifestation as a literary and cultural center. The reading room is a peaceful place to while away a few hours on a rainy day (or swap a book in the book exchange library) and ''coffee concerts,'' book presentations, and other cultural events are regularly held here.

Landmarking the eastern corner of the Waterlooplein, this structure once had a warehouse facade to disguise its function as a clandestine Catholic church. If this church could speak, it would name-drop the great philosopher Spinoza (it was built on the location of his birth house) and Franz Liszt (it hosted a recital of his Graner Messe, attended by the Hungarian composer himself). Originally built in the 1640s, it was rebuilt in 1841 by architect T. F. Suys, then refurbished in 1969. The church's popular name (Moses and Aaron) refers to the figures adorning two gable stones of the original edifice, now seen in the rear wall. In a rare move in a rapidly secularizing country where churches are sometimes turned into carpet stores or bowling alleys, the Mozes en Aäronkerk was reconsecrated in 2014, after a hiatus of 34 years. It's used today by the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio.

Amsterdam's most famous flea market was once an area bordered by the Leprozengracht (Leper's Canal) and Houtgracht (Wood Canal), which often took the brunt of an overflowing Amstel River; the area also housed only the poorest of the city's Jews. In 1893 it became the daily market for the surrounding neighborhood—a necessity because Jews were not allowed to own shops at the time. It became a meeting place whose chaos of wooden carts and general vibrancy disappeared along with the Jewish population during World War II. And yet it still provides a colorful glimpse into Amsterdam's particular brand of pragmatic sales techniques. The market is currently being renovated, but remains open to the public.