Gassan Diamonds

Save

Let us know if these details are incorrect

Lonely Planet review

A short walk from Waterlooplein, this vast workshop demonstrates how a rough, ungainly clump of rock is transformed into a girl's best friend. You'll get a quick primer in assessing the gems for quality, and ample opportunities to buy. The one-hour tour is the best of its kind in town.

While visiting you may notice that the factory sits on an island. This is Uilenburg, one of the rectangular islands reclaimed in the 1580s with the sudden influx of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. The shipyards that operated here were soon moved out to the new Eastern Islands, making way for another wave of Jewish refugees, this time Ashkenazim. In the 1880s Gassan was the first diamond factory to use steam power.