Alkmaar

Alkmaar's historic centre preserves the buildings and traditions of a trading town. The Waag, originally the Holy Spirit Hospital, became a weigh house in the sixteenth century and now houses the Dutch Cheese Museum. A cheese scale is documented in 1365, and the cheese carriers' guild was founded on 17 June 1593. Its four groups continue the customary work of carrying cheeses across the Waagplein.

The Grote Sint Laurenskerk became Protestant after the Reformation in 1573. Its interior contains the Van Covelens organ and the Van Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ, alongside paintings including Van Oostsanen's Last Judgment. Other surviving features of the historic centre include almshouse courtyards and the Gothic town hall, built between 1509 and 1520.