Waag (Alkmaar)

Waag, Alkmaar
Alkmaar - Waag (Weigh building) on the square Waagplein.
Alternative names	Weigh house tower
General information
Type	Carillon tower - Weigh house
Architectural style	partly Renaissance style.
Location	Alkmaar, Noord Holland
Address	Waagplein 2
Completed	1603
Owner	Gemeente Alkmaar
Design and construction
Architect	unknown - C.W. Royaards Restoration 1960s

The Waag building is an as National monument (Rijksmonument) listed building on the Waagplein in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. On this square Waagplein from April till the second week of September, the famous cheese market is held. The Dutch Cheese Museum and the tourist information Office (VVV) are also in the building. In the tower is a famous carillon weekly played by a carilloneur and also automatically by a drum chiming the quarters of the hour. There is also the famous automatic horse with knights play in the tower with an automatic trumpetplayer.

The Waag (balance scale) building has an interesting history dating back to the 14th century. In that period it was built as a chapel for the adjacent Holy Spirit hospital where poor travelers could get free accommodation for three days and nights. Also the sick were nursed in this hospital. In 1566 the Bishop of Haarlem gave permission to the Holy Spirit hospital to re-purpose the hospital building for weighing. In 1582, the weighing activities were moved to the larger Holy Spirit Chapel, which by then was no longer being used for divine services.

The weekly cheese market is held near the weighing building, where Edam and Gouda cheeses were traditionally sold. Today, the cheese market is a show put on for tourists from around the world, rather than an active center of trade in cheese. For the tourists there is also other merchandise for sale on the market along the nearby canal called Mient.

The conversion of the chapel to the weighing house, which involved reducing the exterior of the building somewhat, was completed in 1583. The choir of the chapel was removed and a richly decorated façade in Renaissance style was made. Today the contours of the former choir can be seen in the pavement next to the facade. (The current façade, closely following the original design, dates from 1884.) In 1597-1603, the original tower was replaced by a much larger one (the present Waagtoren).

Atop the façade of the building is the Latin proverb: "SPQA RESTITVIT VIRTVS ABLATAE JVRA BILANCIS". This means : SPQA (Senatus PopulusQue Alkmaris - Council and People of Alkmaar) by virtue of its courage and strength, restored the rights to the balance to the people and government of Alkmaar." This refers to a battle against Spanish Roman Catholics, which, upon the truce of October 8, 1573, established the rights of the citizens to have a weigh house.

Prior to the installation of the de Haze carillon, the earlier, smaller turret on the roof of the chapel held an 11-bell chime by Jacob Waghevens, of Mechelen, Belgium from the 1540s. Over time, seven more bells were added by other founders, and a baton keyboard, similar to that found on other carillons in the Netherlands, was built. At that time, the art of tuning bells effectively had not yet been developed, so the pitch and tuning of most bells was therefore very rough. (One may hear such a set of bells still today at the “speeltoren” in Monnickendam.) After the Hemony brothers mastered the art of tuning bells in the 1640s in Zutphen (and later in Amsterdam), Alkmaar also sought to obtain a well-tuned set of bells. Nearby cities of Enkhuizen, Haarlem and Amsterdam had already done this. Pieter Hemony was summoned to propose a new carillon in 1671, but the city authorities were unwilling to agree to Hemony’s demand that the bars enclosing the belfry be removed to allow the sound to carry better into the square. After Pieter Hemony died in 1680 (his brother having preceded him in death), successor (and cousin) of the Hemony's, Claude Fremy was hired to build a carillon of 35 bells, in the process melting down the old bells to provide some of the metal for the new ones. The committee inspecting the bells several times, rejected Fremy's bells, which were very poorly tuned, and he was obliged to repay the city for the value of the bronze used. In the same time Willem Spraackel the clockmaker from Haarlem built the ironwork in the carillon and the new drum.