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Theater Instituut Nederland
Theatre buffs will be in their element at the Theater Museum. Exhibits cover the history of Dutch theatre via dioramas (including the first theatre built in Amsterdam, in 1638); displays of costumes from lush to stark; heady sepia-toned early photographs of 19th-century actors; and video clips of famous modern-day productions.
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Tropenmuseum
Completed in 1926 to house the Royal Institute of the Tropics, and still a leading research institute, this fascinating museum houses a large collection of colonial artefacts, presented with insight, imagination and a fair amount of multimedia.
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University Library
Today's library is a concrete hulk, not nearly the beautiful building you'd expect from such an historic site, but its background is fascinating. Citizens' militias used to meet here: the 'hand-bow' (handboog) militia in No 421, and the 'foot-bow' (voetboog) militia in No 425, which also served as headquarters for the West India Company.
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Van Gogh Museum
Next to the Stedelijk Museum building is the Van Gogh Museum, one of Amsterdam's must-sees. Opened in 1973 to house the collection of Vincent's younger brother Theo, it consists of about 200 paintings and 500 drawings by Vincent and his friends and contemporaries (Gauguin, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Bernard), as well as many of the artist's personal effects.
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Verzetsmuseum
The Verzetsmuseum (Resistance museum) shows, in no uncertain terms, how much courage it takes to actively resist an adversary so ruthless that you can't trust neighbours, friends or even family. The exhibits give an excellent insight into the difficulties faced by those who fought the occupation from within - as well as the minority who went along with the Nazis.
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Werfmuseum 'T Kromhout
On the outer side of the dyke is an 18th-century wharf that still repairs boats in its western hall. The eastern hall is a museum devoted to shipbuilding and even more to the indestructible marine engines that were designed and built here. Anyone with an interest in marine engineering will love the place; others will probably want to move on. Signage is almost entirely in Dutch only.
