Amsterdam: Things To Do

Amsterdam is a picturesque Northern European city full of canals and canal houses. Amsterdam is both the capital and the most populated city in the Netherlands. The population of the city has been steadily growing in recent years with a current population standing just over 900,000. Amsterdam is famously nicknamed “Venice of the North” due to the large amount of canals and subsequent river boats.

The Homomonument memorial in the centre of the city commemorating LGBTQ+ people who were persecuted during World War Two. The Homomonument opened on September 5th, 1987, making it the first monument in the world dedicated to LGBTQ+ people who were persecuted and killed by the Nazis. Every year during the Netherlands’ annual Remembrance Day ceremony on 4th of May, wreaths and flowers are laid on the monument in honour of the LGBTQ+ community. The following day, on Liberation Day, the monument becomes the site of a celebration. It is truly a beautiful and historically salient place to visit.

The Resistance Museum is a history museum in the Plantage neighbourhood. The museum is dedicated to telling the story of the Dutch people in World War II, and the history of the German occupation and the Holocaust. The Resistance Museum is located in a historic building constructed in 1876 by the Jewish singing society Oefening Baart Kunst (practice makes perfect). The building bears the Star of David and the name of Petrus Plancius (1550-1622). The house located on the spot prior to the construction of the new building was named Plancius and to respect the history of old Amsterdam the name has been kept ever since. The building served for several decades as a Jewish cultural center and synagogue. The museum is across from the entry to Artis Zoo and close to the Jewish Museum and the Memorial to Auschwitz Victims.

The Jewish Museum is a history museum chronicling Jewish culture in the Netherlands. It is the only museum in the country dedicated solely to Jewish history. The museum first opened in 1932 in the famous Waag (Weigh House) however during the Nazi occupation the Jewish Museum was forced to close and much of the collection was lost or destroyed. It wasn’t until a decade after the war in 1955 that it reopened.

The Amsterdam Museum is an history museum dedicated to the city’s past, present and future. The museum was founded 1926 and known as the Amsterdam Historical Museum until 2010. The Amsterdam Museum is incredibly informative, fabulous for any visitor interested in history.

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. The Van Gogh Museum opened in 1973, is four stories and contains the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world. Located on the Mueumplein the museum is closely located to many other musuems.

The Moco Museum (Modern Contemporary Museum) is an independent museum located in Amsterdam, and Barcelona. Founded in 2016 the museum is dedicated to exhibiting modern and contemporary art. The Moco Museum has exhibited artistst of the likes of Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Banksy and Andy Warhol. The Moco Museum in Amsterdam is located in Museumplein, a public space in the centre of the museum district in the historic Villa Alsberg townhouse designed in 1904 by Eduard Cuypers.

Museum Tot Zover is a museum dedicated to displaying the various death practices in the Netherlands. The museum emphasis the salience of eduaction around various death pratices to better understand different cultures and communities. The museum is located in a memorial park with a cemetery and crematorium called De Nieuwe Ooster. The Museum Tot Zover also hosts temporary art and history exibitions. The museum is truly one of the most interesting and unique places I have come accross while traveling.

The Museum Vrolik is a museum housing preserved human and animal anatomy. The museum is located in the University of Amsterdam (UVA) and displays one of the largest collections of anatomy in the world. Collected by the 19th-century medical professor Gerardus Vrolik and his son Willem their Museum Vrolikianum was origionally kept in their canal-side home. The museum is not very touristy and there are no photographs allowed however many photos of the space and the collection can be found online and on the museum’s website.