# Westertoren

> This file is a plain-text rendition of a page on mytuur.com, generated from the same data as the HTML version.

Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/amsterdam/spot/westertoren/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Westertoren rises beside the Westerkerk at the edge of Amsterdam’s Jordaan district, marking the historic city centre with an 85-metre silhouette. Brick forms its lower section, sandstone shapes the first upper section, and lead-covered wood completes the top beneath an imperial crown added in 1637.

Hendrick de Keyser designed the Renaissance church, built between 1620 and 1631, while Pieter de Keyser completed the tower in 1638. Soft Amsterdam soil required the builders to combine three materials, and Pieter also changed the original octagonal plan into a squarer, classicist design. Fifty bronze bells cast by the Hemony brothers form the carillon installed in 1658, while the Westerkerk contains a 1686 organ with shutters painted by Gerard de Lairesse.

The bells chime every fifteen minutes, a sound Anne Frank mentioned in her nearby hiding place. Westermarkt surrounds the church, with a bronze Anne Frank statue standing outside since 1977.

- City: [Amsterdam](https://mytuur.com/en/city/amsterdam/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Westertoren_6832df16f44f54dc8690660a_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_-_Minke_Wagenaar_-_De_Westertoren_\(16\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Westertoren_6832df16f44f54dc8690660a_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_-_Minke_Wagenaar_-_De_Westertoren.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Westertoren_6832df16f44f54dc8690660a_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_-_Minke_Wagenaar_-_De_Westertoren_\(14\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Westertoren_6832df16f44f54dc8690660a_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_-_Minke_Wagenaar_-_De_Westertoren_\(12\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Westertoren_6832df16f44f54dc8690660a_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_-_Minke_Wagenaar_-_De_Westertoren_\(17\).jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Amsterdam. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.