- Rijksmuseum.
Lots of Rembrandts. When I went their, they
had some Van Gogh, but the Van Gogh museum was closed
for renovations. Definitely worth going to.
The museum was designed around Rembrandt's Nightwatch.
You can see the home of the key figure from the Nightwatch
on Singel.
Accepts museum cards.
- The Van Gogh Museum. Closed for renovations when I
arrived in Amsterdam, it reopened in June and I
went a month later. 2-3 floors of Van Gogh paintings,
plus a bit of related work. I'd put this ahead of
the Rijksmuseum if you're only going to see one
museum in Amsterdam.
Accepts museum cards.
- The Amsterdam City Historical Museum. Worth a peak.
If nothing else,
go to the galley (outside the museum proper) with the
group paintings of the guards. Again, it was being
renovated when I went here.
Accepts museum cards.
- The Rembrandt House. The house where Rembrandt lived. It
has lots of his sketches, but nothing more. Worth going
to if you want to see his sketches. And guess what? It
was being renovated when I was there.
Accepts museum cards.
- Allard Pierson Museum. An archaeology museum that's
part of the University of Amsterdam. Their collection was
bigger than I expected, and I enjoyed seeing it. Articles
from Cyprus (pre-Greek), Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and
Persia. Most of the plaques are Dutch only, but there are
enough English plaques to make allow English speakers to
understand what they're seeing.
Accepts museum cards.
- The Nautical Museum. This is one of the museums that was on
my ride to/from work. I stopped in on my way home from
work one day. It's a museum-card museum, so I didn't have
to pay anything. Inside the building, they have lots of
nautical related stuff - models of ships, maps, paintings,
a few sabres and such things. The signs describing what
you see are multilingual, but you'll quickly notice that
they write a paragraph in Dutch but only a brief sentence
in other languages.
By far the best part of the museum is outside. When you
pass by the museum you see a sailing ship. If you go in
the museum, you can go onboard the ship and explore it a
bit. I couldn't have done without the hammy period actors
who were onboard, though.
Well worth a visit to see the sailing ship if you have a
museum card. Otherwise, it depends on your tastes as to
whether it's worth a visit. If you're interested in
nautical things, then definitely go. If you're pressed for
time and not so interested in all thing nautical, then there
are better choices.
Accepts museum cards.
Near the Nautical Museum is the Kromhout Shipyard Museum.
I never went here, although I rode by it every day.
- The Aviodome. This is near the airport. It's close
enough that you can walk there, although there are
no signs. Here are some basic directions: go outside
(on the arrivals level) and walk left along the big
street. Go past the Hilton and the Sheraton. You
will see a gas station (Fiat Gas) on your right
(across the street is a tall KLM Cargo building;
this is different from the low KLM Cargo buildings
you'll see earlier). Turn right on this street.
The Aviodome will be on your right. It's easy
to spot because of the airplane in the yard.
Inside are about two dozen airplanes (or reproductions
- the Germans destroyed all but one pre-WWII aircraft
in The Netherlands, at least according to the Aviodome),
another dozen partial aircraft (cockpits, etc), and
many models, photographs, etc.
A great place for kids and aviation enthusiasts.
Accepts museum cards.
- The torture museum. Where is this? I tried to find it and
failed. I had two addresses, one on Damrak next to the
Sex Museum, the other on Leidsestraat. It was at
neither location. I suspect it's closed.
Update - on my visit in April, 2001, I found a flier for
the torture museum. It's now on Singel, near the flower
market. It's cheap (7.50), but doesn't accept museum
cards. And it's really not worth going to (as I expected
and as you might well guess). They just don't have much
to show - just a few standard torture instruments (thumb
screws, the rack, a few others). If you go, plan to spend
15-20 minutes, assuming you read all the placards.
- The Sex Museum. I skipped this one. It's
supposed to be as cheesy as you'd expect.
- The Eyeglasses Museum.
- The Houseboat Museum.
A collection of mostly paintings by
Frans Hals and others. The picture of the governesses
that Hals painted when he was 80 is pretty spooky. My
favorite painting is a biblical scene depicting 3 men
being tied up before they are to be burned for refusing
to give up their faith.
The description on the plaque beside it is priceless: