What is "grachtengordel"

Grachtengordel (English: The Amsterdam Canal District) is a neighborhood in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The seventeenth-century canals of Amsterdam, located in the center of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in August 2010. The Amsterdam Canal District consists of the area around the city’s four main canals: Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, and Prinsengracht. From Brouwersgracht, the canals are generally parallel with one another, leading gradually southeast into the Amstel river.

Many of the canal houses in the Amsterdam Canal District are from the Dutch Golden Age in the 18th century. Many of these buildings, however, underwent restoration or reconstruction in various centuries, meaning that these building display many different architectural styles and facades.