Oostpoort
in the city wall on the southeast corner at the end of the Oosteinde canal at the northern terminus of the Pijnackervaart.
private residence and art gallery
As the only medieval city gate still standing, it is a popular site for tourists' photographs.
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The Oostpoort or East Gate, built around 1400, provides entry to Delft by both land and water. It was also known early on as St. Catherina's Gate. Its towers were extended around 1510 with the addition of the octagonal sections and the high spires. It was further fortified, including the circular rampart, after Willem of Orange moved his headquarters to Delft.
On Blaeu's 1649 Delft Batavorum map (upper right; click to enlarge), only very small boats could pass through the tunnel in the lower right.
On the Kaart Figuratief (middle right; click to enlarge), made thirty years later, the two towers have been replaced by larger towers in a different position. The dry area to the left of the bridge has been filled with water and the bridge could be raised to let much larger boats pass through.
The photograph below is taken from inside the walls. The images on the right sidebar show additional views.
Much to the dismay of those promoting tourism, the Oostpoort is the only city gate remaining in Delft. The others were demolished in the 19th century. It currently serves as an art gallery and private residence.
Leeuwenhoek's boyhood home was in the lower left corner of each map, a stone's throw inside the gate along the Oosteinde gracht. The water in the gracht came under the Oostpoort from the singel and a canal called the Pijnackersvaart, extending diagonally off the top right corner of Blaeu's 1649 Delft Batavorum map. It was navigable far into the fertile fields and meadows east of Delft.
Just on the other side of the Oostsingel, Leeuwenhoek's family owned one of the parcels in the area designated as Biesland or Poortland depending on the map. On Blaeu's 1649 map, it is in the top left corner, the parcel with the bridge over the sloot; it has a little gate and what looks like a small building.
The village of Pijnacker where Leeuwenhoek married Cornelia Swalmius is close to Delft in that direction; the polder of the same name extends all the way east to the Rijnland area around Leiden. Most of the crops grown out in the polders made their way down the Pijnackersvaart to market in Delft.
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