AMSTERDAM MUSEUM

Description

Essentials about the Amsterdam Museum in brief

If you are interested in the city history of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Museum is the place to be. Located next to the beautiful Begijnhof, the museum tells the story of the city through thousands of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, books, furniture, textiles, glass, ceramics, coins, crafts and everyday objects.

The history of the Amsterdam Museum

As early as the 17th century, the Golden Age of the Netherlands, paintings, prints and archaeological artifacts relating to the city’s history began to be collected in the town hall and exhibited in the cabinet of art. The collection was expanded through purchases or donations. In 1806, a rarity chamber was established in the town hall for these objects. In the 19th century the collection had to move several times, so in 1906 a permanent exhibition of objects related to the city’s history was opened in the Stedelijk Museum.

Soon, however, the idea arose to establish a separate museum for the historical collection and to dedicate the Stedelijk Museum primarily to modern art. Since the mid-1970s, the Amsterdam Museum has been located in the Orphanage building complex on Kalverstraat, right in the heart of the Old Town. Originally a monastery was located here, which was secularized by the Calvinists in the 16th century and converted into an orphanage.

The collection of the Amsterdam Museum

The collection of the Amsterdam Museum today comprises about 80,000 objects, of which only about 15% are exhibited in the museum itself. Those who are interested in the rest of the collection can get more information via a database on the museum’s website.