De Twijnstraat

De Twijnstraat is one of the oldest shopping streets in the Netherlands, active as a commercial strip since the 13th century. When Utrecht received its city rights in 1122, this street was already inside the city boundaries, which means trade here started even before that. The Tolsteeg gate at the end of the street was for centuries the main entrance into Utrecht for travelers coming from the south, and those travelers needed things. Food, fabric, tools. The street delivered. On the attached photo you see a painting of that Tolsteeg gate.

The big glass shop fronts you see today came in the 19th century, built largely by German merchant families who had just gained the right to settle here and were clearly not shy about announcing their arrival. A horse-drawn tram later rattled through, eventually electrified as line 4 of the city tram, followed by buses in the 1930s.

The buses left. The shops stayed.