Rokin

Rokin in 2009
Location	Amsterdam
Postal code	1012
Coordinates	52°22′06″N4°53′34″E / 52.368282°N 4.892788°E /52.368282; 4.892788
South end	Muntplein square
To	Dam Square

TheRokin is a canal and major street in the centre ofAmsterdam. The street runs fromMuntplein square toDam square. The Rokin canal used to run from Muntplein square to Dam Square, but in 1936, the part betweenSpui square and Dam Square was filled in. Canal boats are now moored on the remaining part of the water, from theAmstel toGrimburgwal.

Originally the Rokin was a section of the river Amstel, and was known then asRuck-in (from 'inrukken', which means 'to withdraw', as some of the houses on the Amstel had to be shortened to construct the quays there in the 16th century).^[1]

Amsterdam's firstcommodities exchange was built in 1608-1609 at the corner of the Rokin andDam Square. The commodities exchange, designed byHendrick de Keyser, played a key part in the economic success of the city during theDutch Golden Age. The building was demolished in 1835.

During the ongoing construction of theNorth-South line, a new metro line, archeologists dug down to a depth of approximately 20 meters on the Rokin. The archeological finds in what used to be theAmstel river are expected to shed new light on thehistory of Amsterdam and on the landscape and environment of the area in the millennia that preceded the founding of the city.^[2][3]

The Mirakelkolom, which normally stands on the Rokin, was temporarily removed during the construction of the metro line. The Mirakelkolom is a stone column made up of remnants of theHeilige Stede (Nieuwezijds Kapel), a chapel built to commemorate the 1345Mirakel van Amsterdam (Miracle of the Host). The chapel was demolished in 1908.

Afire in the Rokin on May 9, 1977, claimed 33 deaths.

• 
  The Rokin in 2005, with construction on theNorth-South line underway.
• 
  Entrance toRokin metro station.
• 
  Amsterdam in 1544, withDam square in the centre and the Rokin in the top left. In 1936, the Rokin was filled in from Dam square toSpui square.

• Arti et Amicitiae, an artists' society and art gallery at the corner of Rokin andSpui, constructed in 1841 and designed in part byBerlage.
• The former offices of The Marine Insurance Company Limited at Rokin 69, aJugendstil building from 1901 designed byGerrit van Arkel.
• Tobacco shop Hajenius at Rokin 92-96, royal purveyor of cigars and other tobacco goods since 1826. Both the building from 1914 and the richly decorated interior were designed by the brothers van Gendt, sons of the prominent 19th century architect Adolf Leonard van Gendt.
• TheAllard Pierson Museum for antiquities, on the Oude Turfmarkt, in the former headquarters of theNederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank.
• Magazijn De Gouden Bril, the oldest remaining optician in the Netherlands, at Rokin 72. There is a statue of a monkey with binoculars on the rooftop.
• The house of Pieter Janszoon Sweelinck, son of composer and organ playerJan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, at Rokin 145, built in 1642/1643 under the direction ofPhilips Vingboons, with a splendid example of a raised neck-gable at the top of the building.
• Hotel de l'Europe, at the corner of theNieuwe Doelenstraat and the Rokin, an imposing building from 1895/96.

Rokin metro station on Route 52 of theAmsterdam Metro opened in July 2018. The Rokin is also served bytramway lines 4, 14 and 24.

• List of streets in Amsterdam

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• Streets in Amsterdam
• Canals in Amsterdam

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