-
Houseboat Museum
This quirky museum, a 23m-long sailing barge from 1914, offers a good sense of how gezellig (cosy) life can be on the water. The actual displays are minimal, but you can watch a slide show of houseboats pretty and ghastly, and inspect the sleeping, living, cooking and dining quarters with all mod cons. In case you were wondering, houseboat toilets used to drain directly into the canals, but now most have sewage hook-ups.
-
Huis Marseille
This well-curated photography museum stages large-scale, changing exhibitions, drawing from its own collection as well as from travelling shows. Themes might include portraiture, nature or regional photography, spread out over several floors and a 'summer house' behind the main house.
-
Huis Met De Hoofden
A shining example of Dutch Renaissance style, this whimsical structure has a beautiful step gable with six heads at door level representing the classical muses. Folklore has it that the heads depict burglars, decapitated in quick succession by a fearless maid as they tried to break in.
-
Joods Historisch Museum
Impressive in scale and scope, the museum is housed in a beautifully restored complex of four Ashkenazic synagogues from the 17th and 18th centuries. The enormous Great Synagogue is home to two exhibitions - the history of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1600-1890; and Religion, about Judaism and Jewish traditions.
-
Kattenkabinet
One Golden Bend house that's open to the public is this offbeat museum, devoted, of all things, to the feline presence in art. It was founded by a wealthy financier in memory of his red tomcat, John Pierpont Morgan III. The collection includes works largely from Dutch and French artists (Theopile-Alexandre Steinlen, 1859-1923, figures prominently) as well as a small Rembrandt (a Madonna and Child with cat and snake) and Picasso's Le Chat .
-
Koninklijk Theater Carré
This esteemed theatre was built in 1887 by the Carré family, who had started their career years earlier with a horse-act at the annual fair. The first structure was of wood, an eventually rebuilt in concrete because of the fire hazard, as early performances were lit by gas lamps for 2000 spectators.
-
Krijtberg
The soaring turrets of this neo-Gothic church are an odd sight in this row of sedate Singel homes. Officially known as the St Franciscus Xaveriuskerk, it replaced a clandestine Jesuit chapel on the same site; these days it's still Jesuit. The lavish paintings and statuary make this one of the most beautiful church interiors in the city.
-
Kröller-Müller Museum
Nestled within the Netherlands' largest park, this delightful museum was once owned by Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller, a wealthy German-Dutch couple. He wanted hunting grounds, she wanted a museum site - they got both.
The museum has works by Picasso, Gris, Renoir, Sisley and Manet, but it's the Van Gogh collection that makes it world-class. It's about 10km into the park. There's also an evocative sculpture garden behind the museum.
-
Living Tomorrow Pavilion
A bathroom mirror that displays the latest news? Or a smart washing machine that keeps your red socks out of a white load? These are a couple of the innovations on display at Living Tomorrow, a shoe-shaped home and office of the future. A spate of companies (among others, Phillips, 3M and HP) show off their applications in a living and working environment. The curiously beautiful shape of the building comes from the idea of an object turned inside-out. Visits are by reservation only, and 1½ hour tours in English and Dutch take place Saturday.
-
Madame Tussauds Amsterdam
A delight for kids, who will be filled with wonderment when they realise there is absolutely no difference between the wax David Beckham and the real thing. The place is kind of a bellwether of who's hot in Holland, be it Tiësto (a DJ), Ali B (a rapper) or Princess Maxima. And you can decide for yourself whether Prince Willem-Alexander looks fit to rule or not.
-
Advertisement
-
Magere Brug
This undeniably picturesque bridge is the site of many a Dutch wedding photo. Dating from the 1670s, the nine-arched structure has been rebuilt several times, both in concrete and timber. It's still operated by hand and remains photogenic even at night, when 1200 tiny lights make the bridge look like a Christmas confection. Stand in the middle and feel it sway under the passing traffic.
-
Max Euwe Centrum
Max Euwe (1901-81) was the Netherlands' only world chess champion, in the 1930s, and here you'll find a permanent exhibition devoted to the history of the game. You can play against live or digital opponents. The pavement of the square out front is often crowded with players and onlookers, bent over the outsized chess board.
-
Metz Department Store
This building opened in 1891 to house the New York Life Insurance Company (hence the eagles inside and out), but soon passed to Metz, a purveyor of luxury furnishings who still owns it today. The functionalist designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld added the gallery on the top floor where you can have lunch or (literally) high tea.
-
Montelbaanstoren
The lower part of this striking tower was built to strengthen Amsterdam's eastern defences in 1512. Positioned on the old city wall, it gave sentries a good view of suspicious characters on the wharves along Oude Schans. The octagonal base and open wooden steeple were added in 1606, to dampen the bells on the clock after the neighbours complained.
-
Mozes En Aäronkerk
This neoclassical Catholic church, built in 1841 on the northeastern corner of Waterlooplein, shows that this wasn't exclusively a Jewish area. It replaced the 'clandestine' Catholic church that occupied two houses named Mozes and Aäron in what is now the rear of the church along Jodenbreestraat (note the wall tablet of Moses above the street corner).
-
Muiderpoort
This grand classical arch was built in 1770 as a gateway to the city. On the south side you'll see the Amsterdam emblem of three St Andreas' crosses, while on the other side there's the previous emblem, of a cog ship. In 1811 Napoleon rode triumphantly through the gate with his royal entourage, and promptly demanded food for his ragged troops. The 1st floor, just under the grey dome, is now occupied by a financial advisors' body.
-
Multatuli Museum
Better known by the pen name Multatuli - Latin for 'I have suffered greatly' - novelist Eduard Douwes Dekker was best known for Max Havelaar (1860) about corrupt colonialists in the Dutch East Indies. This small but fascinating museum-home chronicles his life and works, and shows furniture and artefacts from his period in Indonesia.
-
Museum Amstelkring
Hidden in the depths of the Red Light District, this fascinating museum has a single exhibit - an entire church, as it turns out. Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic) was founded after 1578, when Calvinist rulers outlawed public worship of the other religion. You'll find the city's richest collection of Catholic art, and a fantastic labyrinth of tiled staircases, cubbyhole quarters and items pertaining to the Miracle of Amsterdam.
-
Museum Het Rembrandthuis
Rembrandt van Rijn lived and worked in this beautifully restored house dating from 1606. He bought the house for a fortune in 1639, made possible by his wealthy wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh. (Later, chronic debt would force the master painter to move to cheaper digs in the Jordaan.) The years spent in this house were the high point of his career, when he was regarded as a star and ran the largest painting studio in Holland.
-
Museum Van Loon
Our favourite house-museum in town, this opulent residence was built in 1672 for a rich arms dealer. In the late 1800s it was acquired by the Van Loons, one of the most prominent patrician families (thanks to the herring trade and the United East India Company, of which the original Mr Van Loon was a founder).
-
Advertisement
-
Museum Willet-Holthuysen
This sumptuous residence, now part of the Amsterdams Historisch Museum, is named after the widow who bequeathed the property to the city in the late 19th century. Highlights include paintings by Jacob de Wit, the place de milieu (centrepiece) that was part of the family's 275-piece set of Meissen table service, and the intimate French-style garden with sundial - you can also peek at the garden through the iron fence at the Amstelstraat end.
-
Museumplein
This vast, open park behind the Rijksmuseum was cleverly redeveloped in 1999-2000 and today is one of Amsterdam's busiest open spaces. Beneath the park is a car park and supermarket, while back at street level there is a café, skate ramp and a large, sparkling pond (perfect for ice-skating in winter).
-
Muziekgebouw Aan 'T Ij
The bold and beautiful 'Music Building on the IJ' brings the long-standing theatre IJsbreker (which changed its name to the new building) and the jazz house Bimhuis under one roof. This performance complex was some 20 years in the making, and designed by the Danish firm 3xNielsen.
-
Nationaal Monument
This is the Netherlands' best-known memorial to its fallen of WWII, a 22m pylon of concrete and travertine unveiled in 1956. Fronted by two lions, its pedestal has a number of symbolic statues: four males (war), a woman with child (peace), and men with dogs (resistance). The 12 urns at the rear hold earth from war cemeteries of the 11 provinces and the Dutch East Indies. The war dead are still honoured here at a ceremony every 4 May.
-
Nationaal Vakbondsmuseum
Architect HP Berlage considered this building his most successful work, and it's easy to see why. Built in 1900 for the General Netherlands Diamond Workers' Union (ANDB), it's a wonder from the diamond-shaped pinnacle to the magnificent hall with its brick arches, murals, ceramics and leadlight windows by famous artists of the day. The soaring, atrium-style staircase is graced with a chandelier three storeys tall.
