Category Archives: Amsterdam Museums

Hip Guide to Amsterdam

Amsterdam Museums

Jewish Historical Museum

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The Jewish Historical Museum was established 70 years ago, and from 1932 till 1987 it was housed in the medieval Weigh House, in the Nieuwmarkt. In 1987, the museum moved to the restored complex of synagogues at Jonas Daniël Meijerplein, just off the Waterlooplein.

Originally opemed as a single room, part of the Amsterdam Historical Museum, it has grown over the years despite the efforts of the Nazis.

When Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, the Jewish Historical Museum closed its doors and tried to save the collection. Objects on loan were returned to their owners and the museum collection was transferred to the Stedelijk Museum. In 1943 the Germans claimed the museum’s objects as Jewish property, and was taken by the Nazis to Germany, and most was lost or destroyed.
 
Reopened in 1955, only a fifth of the original collection remained. New objects were added from public and private collections.
 
The museum hosts art displays and other cultural events geared towards Amsterdam’s Jewish population and visitors.

Koninklijk Paleis

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Open daily during the summer for tourists, the Royal Palace is not the home of any royalty, it’s a museum and venue for important state events held by the Dutch royals. Recently renovated and spruced up for the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Maxima this place is worth a visit if you haven’t been inside before.

Of note are rooms replete with their period furnishings, carvings, bas-reliefs of bizarre historical notes and artworks left behind when the royals abandoned the place.

Rijksmuseum

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The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, is home to a large collection of art and history of the Netherlands. The museum has an famed collection of paintings from the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic, the Golden Age, works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and other paintings such as Frans Hals and Jan Steen. At the very heart of the museum is Rembrandt’s “Night Watch”.

The Rijksmuseum houses more than just paintings: there are collections of silver, delftware, doll’s houses, prints, drawings, Asiatic art and Dutch history. Art on paper, prints and drawings, and the photographic collection, are shown four times a year in different exhibitions.

The Rijksmuseum is at one end of the Museumplein which is also bordered by the Van Gogh museum, the Stedlijk museum and the Concertgebouw. The Museumplein is a good place to take a break on a nice day. It’s especially refreshing if you’re attempting to do more than one museum in a day.

Info:
Open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Closed on January 1.
Admission is 8.50 euros for adults.

Address:
Stadhouderskade 42
Amsterdam 1071 ZD
Phone: 020-674-7047

Amsterdam Historical Museum

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A visit to Amsterdam should include a visit to this unique museum located near the Dam Square. How can you possibly understand Amsterdam as it is now without a look at it’s fascinating history?

The Amsterdam Historical Museum moved into this building in 1975. It was formerly the municipal orphanage (founded in 1520), and a brief history of the building’s previous existence is told in and around the governors room. An interactive program about the orphanage also contains several old photos.

Exhibits of special Amsterdam historical significance are displayed here at the museum.

Info:
Open daily.

The two museum entrances can be accessed from Kalverstraat 92, Sint Luciënsteeg 27 and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 357. The museum is a twelve-minute walk from Amsterdam’s Central Station, via Damrak, Dam Square and Kalverstraat. Trams 4, 5, 9, 11, 14, 16, 24 and 25 also go to the museum, stopping at Spui.

EYE Filmmuseum

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Four theaters, a lounge and restaurant with other meeting spaces make up the wonderful all-new Film Museum of the Netherlands. Formerly in the Vondel Park, this stunning modern architectural marvel is now across the Ij from the Central Station in Amsterdam.

The EYE collection dates back to 1946, when the first predecessor of EYE was founded: the Nederlands Historisch Filmarchief. In 1952, this became the Dutch Filmmuseum; since 2010 we are EYE.

However, EYE does not exclusively acquire and preserve films, but a range of different materials – from movie posters to projection equipment. The focus is on films and objects that say something about Dutch film culture; a copy of virtually all Dutch films that come out each year is included in the collection.

Use the map below to find your way to the new building.

Artis

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The Artis was founded nearly 160 years ago; and the winding paths, majestic trees and the monumental historical buildings give Artis a special, 19th century atmosphere.

Here you will find more than 8000 animals in the zoo; as well as two museums, the Zoological Museum and the Geological Museum; a very sophisticated Planetarium; and a magnificent, recently renewed Aquarium. There is also a new restaurant on the premises.

Info:
Open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. Located on the Plantage Kerklaan at #38-40. The entrance fee for adults is € 12,93. Children are less. Call for more information.

Phone: 020 523 3400

Huis Marseille Museum for Photography

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Huis Marseille is a monumental old canal house on the Kaizersgracht which is now the Foundation for Photography.

Opened to the public on 18 September, 1999, there are four large exhibition rooms on different levels inside.

The Huis Marseille Foundation is based in the 17th century house on the Keizersgracht to which it owes its name. There is a stone tablet on the facade, with a map of the harbor of Marseille, dating back to the French merchant who had the house built in 1665.

Info:
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Phone: + 31 20 5318989

Anne Frank House

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The actual hiding place where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during World War II.

Eerie and ghostly, with lots of lessons for everyone about hatred and war. This should be visited by all who come to Amsterdam so that you understand the things that have happened here in the past, and why Amsterdam is what it is today.

Info:
Open daily from 9 am to 7 pm. Admission is € 6,50 for adults. Children less.

You can walk to the Anne Frank House from Centraal Station, Amsterdam’s main train station, in 20 minutes. You can also board tram (streetcar) number 13, 17, or 20 as well as buses number 21, 170, 171, or 172 which all go to the tram/bus stop called Westermarkt, located about a block (300 feet) from the museum’s entrance.

Visit the website: Anne Frank House

Hortus Botanicus

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The Hortus Botanicus is a great place to chill and wander, marvel at the gardens and enjoy life.

The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam is perhaps one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. This garden was established in 1638 as a “Hortus Medicus”, an herb garden for the physicians and pharmacists of Amsterdam.

The Hortus interacts with the community in a special way, offering guided tours, the services of a “plant doctor” who will diagnose your plant’s problem or identify it for you.

The showcase is the special Three Climates Greenhouse, built in 1993 and has tropical, sub-tropical and desert sections within.

The Palm Greenhouse was constructed in 1912, and houses some really unusual palm trees in high Victorian style.

Info:
Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and public holidays from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

From 1st November until 1st April the garden closes at 4 p.m. The Hortus is closed on 1st January and 25th December (Christmas Day).

Adult admission is 9.50 euros, but seasonal discounts apply, and reductions for children and seniors.

John Adams Institute

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The John Adams Institute provides an independent podium for American culture in the Netherlands. For three decades now, we have brought the best and the brightest of American thinking from the fields of literature, politics, history, technology and the arts. Love it or hate it, the United States plays an important role in the world: what happens in the US is of continuing relevance for the rest of the world, and we provide a window onto that.

The John Adams Institute was founded in 1987 by the cooperation of the West India Foundation of Holland and New York’s Dutch American West India Company Foundation to promote lively debates and lectures in historic venues within old Amsterdam.

This non-profit organization is dedicated to preserving the historic links between Amsterdam and New York City in particular, and the U.S. as a whole.

Located in the West India Huis, which was once the headquarters of the Dutch West India Company, the John Adams Institute holds a series of approximately eleven lectures or talks every year. These lectures have proven to be popular, and have sold out in advance many times. The speakers tend to be world-famous guests such as writers, artists and scientists with profound viewpoints.

The institute was named for John Adams, former president of the United States, who is also a former resident of Amsterdam. Adams was the first ambassador to the Dutch Republic from the U.S., and enjoyed a life of culture here in Old Amsterdam collecting and reading books, hobnobbing with European royalty and furthering U.S. interests here in the Netherlands.

Info:
Located in the West-Indisch Huis at Herenmarkt #97.