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The Royal Palace of Amsterdam was build in the 17th century as the new city hall of Amsterdam. After the signing of the peace treaty of Munster in 1648, Amsterdam started to execute its ambitious plan for a new city hall. The city council chose Jacob van Campen’s design for a large and impressive building. The power and wealth of the city of Amsterdam in the recently established Republic of the Netherlands are reflected in the building and its interior design. These ideals have been portrayed in the sculptures by Artus Quellien and in the paintings by e.g. Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol.
Jacob van Campen designed a well-balanced building in a style called as Dutch Classicism. He exercised a considerable amount of restraint as far as the basic shapes and decorative schemes were concerned. These starting points resulted in a set-up characterised by perspicuity of design. Nowhere does the decoration distract ones attention from the overall structure. The facade is a harmonious composition based on the proportions advocated by the champions of classical architecture. The prominent plinth supports two pilaster zones, each of them corresponding with a large and a smaller window (i.e. 1.5 storeys). (more…)
Home to Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn and his wife Saskia from 1639 to 1658, this is where the master painted some of his most famous works, including “The Night Watch”. Originally the ground floor provided living accommodation, the first floor was his studio and his pupils used the attic. This museum provides an insight into the life and times of the famous painter.
The house is in the heart of the old Jewish quarter (Jodenbuurt), which gave Rembrandt the opportunity to use his neighbours as models, most notably when executing biblical themes.
Renovated in the early years of the twentieth century and opened as the Rembrandt Museum in 1911, the building houses 260 of his 290 etchings as well as works by other Dutch contemporaries.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, (pronounced Rembrant Harmens-zoon van Rijin), (July 15, 1606 October 4, 1669) is generally considered one of the greatest painters in Western art history, and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Rembrandt was also a proficient engraver and made many drawings. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age (roughly equivalent to the 17th century), in which Dutch culture, science, commerce, world power and political influence reached their pinnacles. (more…)
The Stedelijk Museum has responsibility for a large part of the collection of modern art belonging to the City of Amsterdam. This diverse collection counts more than 100,000 objects from 1850 to the present: paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, graphic design, applied arts, industrial design and new media.
The Museum, built in 1895 on the Museumplein, presently comprises 52 galleries, including the New Wing that was added in 1954. In addition there are a museum shop, library, restaurant and auditorium, among other facilities. An important component of the Museum are its restoration ateliers, specialising in specific modern art restorations. (more…)
The largest and most popular museum in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum was first opened as the Nationale Konstgallerij (National Art Gallery) in 1800 in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. It moved to Amsterdam in 1808 under the orders of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, first to the Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace) in Dam Square, and then to the Trippenhuis, a mansion on Kloveniersburgwal, in 1817. The collection was moved to its present building, a mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles, designed by the Dutch architect Cuypers, in 1885. A new wing was added between 1906-1909 and 1913-1916 to house the growing number of 19th-century paintings. Today, the museum houses an impressive collection of 15th- to 19th-century paintings, including work by the Dutch masters Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Vermeer, and a fine collection of sculpture, furniture and historical items from the Low Countries. Highlights include the museums most famous piece, Rembrandts The Night Watch, painted in 1642, and The Kitchen Maid by Vermeer, dating from 1658. The Print Room is also worth visiting and regularly exhibits famous prints, drawings and photos, whilst the Asiatic Art rooms contain an impressive collection of Oriental objets darts.
An immense Neo-Gothic building housing some of the most famous and amazing art and artifacts in the world. When it opened, its design came under fire by ardent Calvinists who thought it was too ornate, and that the architect went beyond what be promised in the proposal approved by the city. It turns out, they were correct. Cuypers visited the construction site personally and secretly put details back in that he had removed in order to get his plan approved. No doubt, the Calvinists would look down their nose at the gold leaf that adorns this palace of history. But one hundred years later, Amsterdam accepts the building as one of its finest landmarks. Where to enter depends on what you want to see. If you’re into Dutch history, use the left entrance. For great painters, use the right entrance. Whatever you do, don’t try to see the whole collection in one day. This museum is Big—over 150 rooms. Doing a marathon tour will only give you blisters.
Opened in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum houses the collection of paintings bequeathed from the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo. The paintings were transferred to the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation in 1962 by Vincents nephew Vincent Willem Van Gogh, on the initiative of the Dutch government, and they have been on permanent loan to the museum ever since. Located in the Museumplein in the centre of Amsterdam, between the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum, the modern glass building was designed by the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld. It contains the worlds largest collection of works by Van Gogh, including some 200 paintings, 500 drawings, 700 letters and the artists own collection of Japanese prints. Highlights of the Van Gogh collection include his first large-scale painting, The Potato Eaters which was painted in 1885 and The Sunflowers, one of his most famous pieces, painted in 1889. The museum also houses a large collection of work by Van Goghs contemporaries, including paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin.
Two of Van Gogh’s works were stolen from the museum on the night of 6-7 December 2002: View of the Sea at Scheveningen (Zeegezicht bij Scheveningen) and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (Het uitgaan van de hervormde kerk te Nuenen).
The former hiding place, where Anne Frank wrote her diary, is now a well-known museum. The museum tells the history of the eight people in hiding and those who helped them during the war. Anne Frank’s diary is among the original objects on display. The museum is located in the centre of Amsterdam and is easy to reach by public transport. You can visit the museum individually or make an appointment for a group visit.
In 1947, two years after her death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Otto Frank published “The Diary of Anne Frank”. The book was compiled from a collection of notebooks kept by his daughter between 1942 and 1944 whilst the Franks, Jewish refugees from Frankfurt, and another family hid in a closed-off annexe inside this house. (more…)
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