Museum sights in The Netherlands
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House of Bols
The House of Bols is a jenever (Dutch gin) museum run by the Bols distillery. The hour-long, self-guided tour includes a confusing sniff test, a company history and a cocktail made by one of the bartenders who train at the academy upstairs. You must be aged 18 or over to visit.
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Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is 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, such as Gauguin, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and Bernard. Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 and had a short but astonishingly productive life. Through his paintings, the museum chronicles his journey from Holland, where his work was dark and sombre, to Paris, where, under the influence of the impressionists, he discovered vivid colour. From there he moved to Arles, where he was incredibly productive, often completing a canvas every day. Astoundingly Van …
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Hortus Botanicus
Established in 1638, the Hortus Botanicus became a repository for tropical seeds and plants brought by Dutch ships from the East and West Indies. From here, coffee, pineapple, cinnamon and palm-oil plants were distributed throughout the world. The 4000-plus species are kept in wonderful structures, including the colonial-era seed house and a three-climate glasshouse. The 300-year-old cycad is possibly the world’s oldest potted plant. The butterfly house is a hit with kids and stoned adults. Guided tours (additional €1) are held at 2pm Sunday year-round.
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Madame Tussauds Amsterdam
This is 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. Buying tickets online will save you a few euros and get you into the fast-track queue.
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Amsterdam Tulip Museum
Sponsored by a bulb-growing company, this small, rather clinical exhibit traces the prince of petals from its beginnings in Turkey. Displays cover Tulipmania, bulbs as food in the war years, and present-day scientific methods of growing and harvesting. A highlight is the tulip paintings by 17th-century painter Judith Leijster, a student of Frans Hals. The gift shop is one-stop shopping for all your tulip souvenirs.
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Diamond Museum
The Diamond Museum explores the trade’s history and Amsterdam’s shining role in it. The museum is fairly low-tech, and those who are economically minded might want just to go next door to Coster Diamonds (the company owns the museum and is attached to it) and take a free factory tour, where you can see gem cutters at work and hear about the process.
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Mauritshuis
For an introduction to Dutch and Flemish Art 101, visit the Mauritshuis, a small museum in a jewel-box of an old palace. Highlights include the Dutch Mona Lisa: Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Rembrandts include a wistful self-portrait from the year of his death, 1669, and The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp.
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Allard Pierson Museum
Run by the University of Amsterdam, the Allard Pierson Museum, shows a rich archaeological collection, including an actual mummy, ancient Greek and Mesopotamian vases, a wagon from the royal tombs at Salamis (Cyprus), and galleries stuffed to the wainscoting with other fascinating items.
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Naturalis – Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum
A stuffed elephant greets you at Naturalis – Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, a large, well-funded collection of all the usual dead critters and, notably, the million-year-old Java Man discovered by Dutch anthropologist Eugene Dubois in 1891.
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Rijksmuseum
With a collection worth billions, the Rijksmuseum is the cream of Dutch classical art, but until renovations finish in 2008 only 400 masterpieces are on display. If all goes well, the building will be returned to its original 1885 glory. But never mind the building dust, the much-loved Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Golden Age remain on display.
The museum's crowning glory is here too: Rembrandt's mesmerising Nightwatch (1650), the artist's breathtaking group portrait of an Amsterdam civil militia led by Frans Banningh Cocq, a future mayor and apparently not the brightest of lights.
Other must-sees are in Sculpture & Applied Art and Asiatic Art (including the famous…
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Zuiderzeemuseum
The Zuiderzeemuseum consists of two parts: the Buitenmuseum with 130-odd rebuilt dwellings and workshops, and the Binnenmuseum devoted to farming, fishing and shipping. The capitivating Buitenmuseum (open-air), opened in 1983, was assembled from houses, farms and sheds trucked in from around the region to show Zuiderzee life as it was from 1880 to 1932.
Every conceivable detail has been thought of, from the fencetop decorations and choice of shrubbery to the entire layout of villages, and the look and feel is certainly authentic. Inhabitants wear traditional dress, and there are real shops such as a bakery, chemist and sweet shop. For a special postmark drop your letters …
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Frans Hals Museum
The Frans Hals Museum is a must for anyone interested in the Dutch masters. Kept in an almshouse where Hals spent his final, impoverished years, the collection focuses on the 17th-century Haarlem School, which is regarded as the pinnacle of Dutch mannerist art. Eight group portraits by Hals detailing the companies of the Civic Guard are the museum’s pride and joy, revealing the painter’s exceptional attention to mood and psychological tone. Don’t miss his two paintings known collectively as the Regents & the Regentesses of the Old Men’s Almshouse (1664). Among other treasures are ceiling-high illustrations of the human anatomy with biblical and mythological allusi…
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Tropenmuseum
The Tropenmuseum is the star attraction. It houses a three-storey collection of colonial artefacts, presented with insight, imagination and a fair amount of multimedia. You can stroll through an African market or a Central Asian yurt (traditional felt hut), see ritual masks and spiky spears, and listen to recordings of exotic musical instruments. There’s a children’s section, a great gift shop and two cafes serving global foods. It’s a grand place to spend a lazy Monday, when many other museums are closed. The attached Tropeninstituut Theater screens films and hosts music, dance and plays by visiting international artists.
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EnergeticA
Housed in a former power station, this quirky museum has a bewildering array of whizz-bang equipment that conjures up visions of mad scientists. Galleries are named for key pioneers (Marconi, Minckelers), and the soaring main hall is filled with steamship engines, gas streetlamps, antique lifts (elevators) from Vienna and Paris and high-voltage generators that send lightning between enormous V-shaped prongs.
There's also an early refrigerator that resembles a brass cement-mixer. Its guides are volunteers, some of them retired engineers, and they'll enthusiastically escort you through centuries of technological history.
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Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Among Europe’s very finest museums, the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen has a permanent collection spanning all eras of Dutch and European art, including superb old masters. Among the highlights are The Marriage at Cana by Hieronymus Bosch, the Three Maries at the Open Sepulchre by Van Eyck, the minutely detailed Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and Portrait of Titus and Man in a Red Cap by Rembrandt. Renaissance Italy is well represented; look for The Wise and Foolish Virgins by Tintoretto and Satyr and Nymph by Titian.
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Huis Marseille
This well-curated photography museum stages large-scale, temporary exhibitions, drawing from its own collection as well as hosting travelling shows. Themes might include portraiture, nature or regional photography, spread out over several floors and a ‘summer house’ behind the main house. Huis Marseille also has a noteworthy building. The name refers to its original owner, a French merchant in 1665, and the original structure has remained largely intact. It retains some antique touches such as the 18th-century fountain in the library, and a painting of Apollo, Minerva and the muses in the garden room.
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Teylers Museum
It’s shocking, but depending on your tastes, the Teylers Museum may top Frans Hals. It’s the oldest museum in the country (1778) and contains an array of whiz-bang inventions, such as an 18th-century electrostatic machine that conjures up visions of mad scientists. The eclectic collection also has paintings from the Dutch and French schools and numerous temporary exhibitions. The interiors are as good as the displays: the magnificent, sky-lighted Ovale Zaal (Oval Room) contains natural history specimens in elegant glass cases on two levels.
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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.
All that will be enough for most visitors. Those with abiding interest in labour issues will find the displays (in Dutch) an extra bonus.
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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.
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Hermitage Amsterdam
It has fast become one of the city’s most popular attractions since its 2009 opening. The long-standing ties of Russia and Holland – remember Czar Peter the Great learned shipbuilding here in 1697 – led to this local branch of St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum. Prestigious exhibits, such as treasures from the Russian palace or masterworks by Matisse and Picasso, change about twice per year, and they’re as well-curated as you’d expect. Come before 11am daily or on Wednesday after 5pm (the museum’s late night) to avoid the lengthiest queues.
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Het Oranje Voetbal Museum
Here you’ll find out why, for many Dutch, football isn’t a matter of life or death – it’s much more important than that. Spread over four hallowed floors, this museum tells the story of Orange maestros including Cruyff, Van Basten and Gullit, and the revolution that was Total Football. A tiny cinema shows a 20-minute film with some immortal footage, and hard-core fans can listen to recordings of 100 Orange songs. The downstairs shop is stocked with souvenirs in your favourite colour.
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Van Gogh Museum
One of the best Impressionist galleries in the world, the Van Gogh Museum houses about 200 paintings, predominantly by the world's favourite tortured artist, including famous works like The Potato Eaters and The Yellow House in Arles. There are also works by some of his friends and peers, such as Gauguin and Monet.
The museum houses the collection of Vincent's art dealer brother Theo. Japanese prints, which influenced the old ear-slicer, are also on display.
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News Photo
This shop-museum displays enormous blowups of photos that accompany headlines, by photographers from around the world. In fact the museum operates like something of a newsroom itself. Themed exhibitions (terrorism, the Tour de France etc) change every few weeks, but as news is made the curators use giant printers to print out the latest, and - presto - it's up on the conveniently magnetic walls.
You can order fresh prints in a number of sizes, produced on the spot.
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NEMO
The green, shiplike building on the eastern harbour is NEMO, designed by big-name architect Renzo Piano. It’s a science museum with loads of interactive exhibits to entertain kids, such as drawing with a laser, ‘antigravity’ trick mirrors, and a ‘lab’ where you can answer questions such as ‘How black is black?’ and ‘How do you make cheese?’ NEMO’s stepped roof (admission free) is the city’s largest summer terrace, and worth a stair climb for its fantastic views.
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Museum Amstelkring
The Museum Amstelkring hides a secret church. Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic), as it’s known, was a Catholic chapel set up c 1578 after the Calvinists seized power and outlawed other religions. Inside you’ll find the city’s richest collection of Catholic art, a labyrinth of tiled staircases, cubbyhole quarters and the unexpectedly grand worship room itself. The museum is being renovated through to 2011, but remains open to visitors.
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