Category Archives: The Dutch

Hip Guide to Amsterdam

The Dutch

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.

Nationale Opera & Ballet (Muziek Theater)

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On the Waterlooplein is the modern City Hall and Nationale Opera & Ballet (Muziek Theater) complex, which looms over the Inner Amstel River.

Aside from all the city’s business, this place is for the arts, and regular performances of ballet, opera and classical music are offered. The seasonal series of tickets make this affordable, otherwise it can be pricey – but all of Amsterdam society will be out for these performances, which should make for an amusing experience.

Apotheek Jacob Hooy

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In the Nieuwe Markt area is an ancient apothecary and drugstore named Jacob Hooy at Kloveniersburgwal #10. Operating on this spot since 1743, the shop offers medicinal herbs and various natural remedies. The staff is on hand to help you with explanations of the herbs and their uses, and will help you find what you need.

Check out the barrels and drawers all labeled in Latin with their contents. Now imagine the wonderful aroma of all those dried herbs and flowers – you can sneeze, wheeze or shout with glee – but you will definitely notice it. In fact the interior of this shop is nothing but wall-to-wall drawers, barrels, and jars of herbs, salves, and other personal care items.

Jacob Hooy is also noted for their licorice, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They say the selection of the sweet sticky black stuff here is Amsterdam’s best, except maybe for the sticky black stuff in the coffeeshops, but that’s another kind of “candy.”

Jacob Hooy offered all sorts of items in the past that we don’t consider medicine today – note the jars with names like OPIUM and TABAK.

This area of Amsterdam was always a market, especially for herbs and spices relating to medicine. Across the courtyard in the fanciful castle named the Waag, Dutch physicians operated a theater for the public dissection of human corpses. This rather grim practice no longer takes place over there, it’s now an internet café and restaurant! Before that the area was known as St. Anthony’s Gate, until the 1600’s when the city tore down it’s perimeter walls.

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.

Vakbondmuseum or the Stichting De Burcht

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The Diamond Window

The Vakbondmuseum is also known as the Stichting De Burcht. You’re asking why?

Well this building is so interesting that if you have any interest in architecture that you must visit.

Designed by the founder of the Amsterdam school of Architecture, Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856- 1934), who was a forceful figure on reshaping Amsterdam into what we see now in the 21st Century. The building was created for the thriving diamond industry whose capital was in Amsterdam at the time. Now the National Trade Unions Museum (or Stichting De Burcht) has its home here.

The museum’s website offers the following description: “Inside, you’re under the illusion that you have entered the covered courtyard of a Mediterranean palace. Sunlight streams down through a double roof of yellow and white glass and, passing through glass floor tiles, penetrates as far as the basement. The walls are of yellow, white and blue glazed brick and are relieved by vaults, columns and balustrades. An enormous hanging lamp high in the glass cupola, dominates the most beautiful of Amsterdam’s staircases. In the stylish rooms, you can enjoy paintings by Richard Roland Holst, stained glass windows, wooden panelling and furniture designed by Berlage himself. You can explore as high as the tower room that offers a view of the impressive cupola construction. In the high tower, you will see a lighted window pane in the form of a diamond.”

Scheepvaart Museum

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The Scheepvaart Museum is the Netherlands Maritime Museum, located on Amsterdam’s harbor in the National Naval Depot, a former arsenal of the Dutch Navy that is over 300 years old.

The collection within tells the story of the maritime past of the Netherlands. Outside the Museum is a permanent berth for a replica of the Dutch East Indiaman “Amsterdam,” which is great fun to explore with guides in period costumes telling you about life aboard ship in the old days.

If you’ve got a binnacle at home, or a ship’s bell mounted somewhere, you’d be happy to spend hours wandering through this place. It’s fun even if you don’t have one.

Info:
Easy access by public transport: from Amsterdam Central Station 5 minutes by bus, line 22 or 32; or only a 15 minute walk.

NEMO Science Museum

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New Metropolis is the huge greenish hulk arising over the entrance to the Ij Tunnel leading north out under Amstedam’s harbor. N.E.M.O. as it is called here, is a technology museum, exhibition space, meeting center and venue for events. The building was designed by the Italian Renzo Piano, and it does look like some futuristic ship’s hull rising from the harbor of Amsterdam.

The highlight is the high technology museum, with an amazing display of interactive scientific wonders to delight all ages. Other exhibits come and go in the large interior.

Also here are a number of rooms for use by public and private organizations for conferences, parties, etc. The Glass Ballroom can hold up to 800 people, the NEMO theater seats 300, the Lumiere Filmhall seats 199, the Da Vinci Hall holds 80, the Columbus Foyer holds a maximum of 500 people, and the ultimately swanky “Captain’s Cabin” with it’s brass trim and nautical decor holds 25 very special guests. (They are currently asking around $1,000 per day to rent just this one room.) Of course, they’ll rent you the roof as well! Which I gather could hold up to 2000 revelers.

Stedelijk Museum

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The Museum is in a new beautiful building!

The Stedelijk Museum was founded in 1874 by a group of private citizens in Amsterdam, led by C.P. van Eeghen, who donated funds and their art collections to establish a museum in the capital of the Netherlands that would be devoted to modern art. The collection, housed at first at the Rijksmuseum, was moved in 1895 into the Museum’s own building, designed by A.W. Weissman.

For its first decades, the Stedelijk maintained a diverse collection, which included works of contemporary Dutch and French masters but also period rooms and even the banners of citizens’ militias. Beginning around 1920, however, the collection was culled and the focus concentrated more rigorously on modern and contemporary art, including pioneering collections and exhibitions of design and photography.

Already known to visitors from around the world because of its paintings by Vincent van Gogh (many of them later transferred to the Van Gogh Museum upon its creation), the Stedelijk began its rise to international prominence after 1945, when curator and designer Willem Sandberg became the Director. In addition to expanding the collection and working directly with many artists, Sandberg initiated an ambitious and far­sighted exhibition program that put the Stedelijk at the forefront of contemporary art institutions—a program that continued under Edy de Wilde (Director 1963– 1985), Wim Beeren (1985–1993), Rudi Fuchs (1993–2003) and Gijs van Tuyl (2005–2009) and that contributed greatly to the development of the Stedelijk’s collection.

Info:
The Stedelijk Museum is open daily from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm, and is closed on January 1.

Take the #5 or the Circle Tram from Centraal Station.

Underground parking and an underground Albert Hein (supermarket) are located next door.

Tropenmuseum

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Inside the Tropenmuseum you can stroll around the courtyard of a Javanese house, roam through noisy Arab streets, or find yourself in a thunderstorm in the middle of the African savannah. You may also relax to the authentic music of a South American jukebox – or listen to the gripping life story of a tropical rainforest-dweller.

Our visit coincided with the Batik exhibit showcasing the art form’s techniques, history and styles through the ages. Hundreds of examples of fine Batik, antique photos and dozens of displays showcase the regional origins of patterns, the different uses of Batik cloth, and more modern interpretations using the batik method.

I really appreciate the attitude of the museum and many exhibits, which review the negative impacts of human development upon these regions, and offer useful suggestions for preserving and restoring these ecosystems. This museum is highly recommended for tourists, students and children. In fact there’s a Children’s (Kinder) Museum too!

The Tropen Theater has excellent productions, showcasing ethnic music and culture from around the world, but like the museum, highlighting the former Dutch colonies of Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles.

Museum Het Rembrandthuis

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The facade of the Rembrandt House and Museum

The Rembrandthuis Museum is where the famous painter established his own studios here in Amsterdam, and lived with his family from 1639 to 1658.

He eventually left after declaring bankruptcy, and the home has been restored with approximations of it’s original furnishings based on an inventory of his possessions from that time.

Most of the building is devoted to his daily life from the time, and is of course, filled with paintings and art.

Part two of the museum is the new museum wing, where you will find exhibition rooms. The museum shop, the entrance to the museum café, the auditorium and the Rembrandt Information Centre are also located in the new wing.

On the fifth floor is the Rembrandt Information Center, where you can research on DC-rom, in books and other publications. By appointment only.