Opposite the Grote Kerk is an elegant building with a pointed roof, supported by slender columns. It is the Stadsput or Cistern, the only monument of this nature in the Netherlands. It contains an underground reservoir for two thousand hectoliters of rainwater, which is collected from the church roof. This Cistern was built in 1551 by order of Maximilian of Burgundy for the Scottish merchants, who had complained about the poor water supply in the city, to wash their wool. The ingenious well was built after the arrival of the Scottish wool staple. Rainwater is supplied via the roof of the Grote Kerk. Veere was not connected to the water supply until 1938; until then the well was used as a water supply for the inhabitants.