Amsterdam Life

Another baroque garden set in the Jordaan district is the one located at Van Loon Museum

The house features a garden room where the best views are guaranteed, and a garden house with a prolific decoration of pillars, sculptures and tympanums on the facade. Acquired by the Van Loon family in 1884, the building dates as far back as the 1672, though it received some luxurious ornaments in the 18th century: mirrors, panels and plasterwork were the only additions to the original structure set on the Keizersgracht.

In 1895, Willet-Holthuysen’s widow decided to donate her spectacular canal house to Amsterdam, providing it was turned into a museum. The building, from the 17th century, is surrounded by a canal garden that was set a hundred years later in French baroque style and is one of the ample gardens in the city.

A visit to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, which now belongs to Amsterdam`s Historic Museum, enables visitors to know a real canal house as well as the lifestyle of a wealthy family: kept in its original style, the mansion boasts magnificent rooms in the ground floor, among which you should not miss the ballroom, garden room and hall.

Despite the largest collection of paintings, sketches, notebooks in the world created by van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum offers othes special exhibitions. The Collection of his paintings is arranged in chronolical order, starting from his first works though those which were made under influence of Impresionism and so on. Special exhibitions include works made by Monet, Gaugin, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. Why them? As their personalities, painings had influence or where contemporary on Van Gogh.

The Jewish Historical Museum is the only museum in the Netherlands to focus on Jewish history, religion and culture. The museum is located in a group of four historical Ashkenazi synagogues at the heart of the former Jewish quarter in the centre of Amsterdam.

The permanent exhibition features the following themes: the role of religion and tradition, the links with Israel, the persecution of Jews during the Second World War, personal life stories and the mutual influence of Jewish and Dutch culture.

In recent years exhibitions have featured work by artists such as Andy Warhol, Jozef Israëls and Marc Chagall. Shows have also featured photography, for example by Sem Presser and Erwin Blumenfeld, as well as surveys of cultural history. And naturally, the children’s exhibition Where Mokum is Home is well worth a visit. Children, and adults too, are introduced to different aspects of Jewish tradition through interactive presentations, including matzo baking and learning to write Hebrew letters.

In the Tropenmuseum you can take a trip through the world and through time.

Thousands of stories, splendid works of art and amazing objects bring a wide variety of cultures to life. The Tropenmuseum is one of Europe’s leading ethnographic museums, renowned for its collection. The permanent and temporary exhibitions display objects, photographs, music and film from non-western cultures.

The beautiful and historic building in which the Tropenmuseum is housed provides space for eight permanent exhibitions and an ongoing series of temporary exhibitions, including both modern and traditional visual arts and photographic work.

The permanent exhibitions are Southeast Asia, Oceania, Western Asia and North Africa, Africa, Latin America, Man and Environment and Music, Dance and Theater. There is an audiotour available in Dutch, English, French and German.

The Netherlands Maritime Museum is housed in the National Naval Depot which is a former arsenal of the Dutch Navy, over 300 years old.

The unique collection tells the story of the maritime past of the Netherlands.

The musem brings you back to the past times of trading voyages, Amsterdam in the Golden Age, the Dutch East India Company, distant countries, the mercantile spirit and the oversea colonies.

On the edge of the Red Light District, museum houses in the restored 17th-century canal house with two smaller houses to the rear.

The lower floors of the building became a museum in 1888 and today contain refurbished rooms, as well as a collection of church silver, religious artifacts and paintings.

Here they have the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world, plus special exhibitions.

The museum is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays till 22:00. No photography is allowed inside. And no smoking, of course. Second photo: As for the Rijksmuseum, you can now order and print tickets for the Van Gogh Museum online, to avoid standing in long lines like these folks are doin