Amsterdam Guide » Attractions & Activities » Museums
Amsterdam Attractions & ActivitiesMuseums
If you're a history buff, art aficionado, archaeology fiend, or dabbler in the sciences, our museum picks are perfect for a rainy day or afternoon excursion! Our selections center around notable collections of historical and cultural items. Many have excellent rotating displays in addition to exceptional permanent collections.
Address: Oudezijds Achterburgwal 54, Amsterdam 1012 DP
Exploring various aspects of human sexuality, this museum is a curious amalgam of dioramas, exhibits, and art from our era and from ages past. Strewn across five floors are displays that articulate different fetishes (including bondage scenarios), that play pornographic animation, and that illustrate how sexuality and...
Address: Herengracht 573, Amsterdam 1017 CD
This relative newcomer on the museum scene devotes itself entirely to one of the most essential fashion accessories for women: the bag. Its specialized collection (the largest of its kind in the world) extends to around 2500 items – including alms purses, thigh bags and vanity-cases – as it traces the history of the...
Address: Dam Square, next to the Royal Palace, Amsterdam
Equated with England's Westminster Abbey since Dutch monarchs are inaugurated here, the Nieuwe Kerk had its foundations laid in the 14th century. Built as a Catholic sanctuary, it survived the nation's change to Protestantism, although it lost much of its original decoration. Even so, subsequent building efforts...
Address: Damrak 18, Amsterdam 1012 LH
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All right, you're in Amsterdam, so you might as well bite the bullet and visit one of its sex museums. This place isn't incredibly obvious from the outside, but once inside, you'll discover a variety of displays documenting the carnal act and our perceptions of physical pleasure throughout history. Erotic art and...
Address: Herengracht 168, Amsterdam 1016 BP
Those who harbor an appreciation for theater will find this city museum particularly appealing. The institute, set in two 17th-century canal houses, features displays on Dutch theater through the years and includes artwork, set pieces, costume elements, design models and more. Various types of dramatic art are...
Address: Singel 449, Amsterdam 1012 WP
Horrible devices designed to elicit confessions from long-ago prisoners comprise the displays in this small, dark museum. The physical pain created by straps, spikes, weights and blades seems unimaginable to modern folks, and the frequency with which these means of punishment and death were employed is enough to give...
Address: Opposite Prinsengracht 296, Amsterdam
Given Amsterdam's proximity to the water, it's not surprising that boats have a long history of being adapted into living quarters. This museum illustrates just how that's possible. The circa-1914 barge, "Hendrika Maria," moored in one of the city's canals, was transformed into an 1125-square-foot home for a skipper...
