Suyckerhofje and the Eel Riot of the Lindengracht
Why is it significant?
Find the narrow door at number 149 in the row of houses along the Lindengracht, and if it happens to be open, you will see a long, dim corridor running away from the street. At the end of it, light, green leaves, and a small hidden courtyard.
Key Facts
| Place | Suyckerhofje and the Eel Riot of the Lindengracht |
|---|---|
| Address | Lindengracht 149, 1015 KD Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.38000, 4.88300 |
| Part of Walk | Behind the Green Doors: Hidden Hofjes and Market Days of the Jordaan, Amsterdam |
| Generated | Generated |
Find the narrow door at number 149 in the row of houses along the Lindengracht, and if it happens to be open, you will see a long, dim corridor running away from the street. At the end of it, light, green leaves, and a small hidden courtyard. That is the Suyckerhofje, founded in 1667 by a merchant called Pieter Jansz Suyckerhoff.
It is one of the most charming hofjes in the city, a handful of homes so tucked away that you could live on this street for years without knowing it was there. Respect the residents, peek and move on... because the street outside has a much louder story.
In 1886 the Lindengracht was still a canal. And on Sundays the Jordaan played a cruel old game called palingtrekken, eel pulling. A live eel was hung from a rope stretched across the water, and young men in a rowing boat tried to grab it as they passed underneath. The slippery eel usually won, and someone usually ended up in the canal. The city had banned the game, and on the twenty-fifth of July a policeman stepped forward and cut the rope.
The crowd exploded. Stones, roof tiles and flowerpots rained on the police from the windows, and over the next day the fighting spread through the neighbourhood, with barricades in the streets. The army was called in and opened fire. When it was over, twenty-six people were dead and well over a hundred injured. The Palingoproer, the Eel Riot, sounds like a comic story, and it is still told with a grin in the Jordaan... but it was really the anger of a poor, crowded quarter, and it ended in a massacre.
Within a decade the canal was filled in, and today the Lindengracht hosts one of the best street markets in town on Saturdays, fish, cheese, flowers and fabric where the eel once dangled. Now head east along the Lindengracht and turn right towards the big church square, the Noordermarkt.