In de Waag

''De Waag'' was built in 1488 as a city gate. It is the oldest secular building in Amsterdam. The building was used alternatively as a Weigh house, guild Hall and Jewish-Historical Museum. The various guilds that occupied the building left behind clear traces of their occupation. As a result, De Waag contains unique examples of bricklaying that include master examinations of the members of the brick layers guild. In 1691 the guild of surgeons added an octagonal domed tower which housed the theatrum anatomicum. It was here, in the theatrum anatomicum that the first Northern European dissection occurred. Rembrandt was a regular visitor and immortalized the practice of anatomy in his painting ' The anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp'. Today De Waag is home to the media lab and presentation space of the Society for Old and New Media.