Category — Amsterdam

Most of the people, who are traveling for cultural purposes in Amsterdam, want to see the Anne Frank House. Like it wasn’t bad enough for her to live there. We have to witness, as well, the poor conditions the woman was forced to survive in. In fact, the only reason it is worth going there, is the beautiful building in front of the house. That is something not to be missed.

Less famous, but much more interesting from the historical point of view is visiting Willet-Holthuysen Museum and Van Loon Museum.
Those two museums are memorial houses owned by rich merchants who left a will saying that after their death, those 17th-century canal houses were to become the property of the city of Amsterdam.
Very well preserved, the houses offer an accurate image of how the wealthy lived in an Amsterdam canal house.
In Willet-Holthuysen Museum you’ll see on the first floor a magnificent ballroom, a dining room, a room looking over the garden, and an imposing corridor.
In other rooms furnishings have been brought from comparable 18th and 19th century houses, to recreate the atmosphere of bygone times.
On the second floor is the romantic bedroom with a wooden bed so wonderful that I felt like taking it home with me, or, better, ordering a copy of it.
In the basement are the kitchen and the scullery, suggesting what life must have been like for the servants.
At the back of the buildings is the garden, laid out according to the early 18th-century French fashion.

In Van Loon Museum you’ll see a collection consisting of of family portraits, furniture, silver and porcelain.
I specially liked the small interior garden and the richly ornamented rooms on the first floor.
Ferdinand Bol, Rembrandt’s most renowned pupil, first occupied the double canal house, built in 1672.
In the eighteenth century the interior was embellished with lavish stucco, marble and a grand staircase.
Willem van Loon was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company in 1602.

In 1973 the family opened the house to the public.

Famous and interesting is The Rembrandt House Museum. For almost twenty years Rembrandt van Rijn lived and worked in the house on Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam.
He bought it in 1639, when he was at the height of his fame. In 1656 he went bankrupt and everything of value was sold at auction.
A notary drew up a list of his possessions and that is how the historic interior of Rembrandt’s house was restored and furnished with items and works of art from the master’s time.

In Rembrandt’s workroom are demonstrations of how etchings are printed. Demonstrations of how paint was made in the seventeenth-century are staged in the studio, revealing what was a mystery over many decades. There are special activities for children, including a quiz quest through Rembrandt’s house.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum displays its collection of art, objects and archaeological finds in a building where Amsterdam’s orphans once lived (the former Civic Orphanage – Burgerweeshuis).
The team who created the concept and who realize it must be not only a team of historians but, as well, an artistically one, filled with love for Amsterdam’s past, history, people and spirituality.
They managed, better that other historical museum’s teams, to bring the past so closed to the contemporaneous understanding and feeling that everybody will fall in love with Amsterdam.
The photos and the film material are used to recreate (not just to show) the happy times as well as the drama of the modern city’s inhabitants.
Actually, that is how each object is placed in the museum.
It may be the reason, The Amsterdam Historical Museum is so alive that can capture the attention of people at all age.
The soldiers, the armours, the weapons, the ships create a scene painting enviously by the best movie directors in the world.

On the same page, from the historical point of view, is The Tropenmuseum.
There are thousands of stories and objects from a variety of cultures: New Guinea, The Netherlands East Indies, Southeast Asia, India, Latin America & the Caribbean, Africa, Western Asia & North Africa.
You will see in Tropenmuseum a forest of monumental wooden sculptures, some more than 12 meters high. They are used during bisj ceremonies, which are held to commemorate deceased members of the community.
These rituals, still performed today, are brought to life in an exhibition with a thrilling combination of light, sound and film.

The Tropenmuseum Junior is a lively museum designed for children from six to twelve years of age. It’s open on Wednesday afternoons, every weekend, during the holidays and on public holidays.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum and The Tropenmuseum are a must.