Amsterdam boasts a vibrant past and offers picturesque canals. Here, tradition meets innovation to form a city where both can coexist harmoniously.
Canals span across the city and connect via more than a thousand bridges, making navigation and exploration simple and accessible.
Berlage’s initial modern extension on reclaimed land north of the IJ showcased his signature strategy for densely-packed suburban neighborhoods: “in layout monumental, in detail picturesque” (Berlage 1976). Other districts included four-story dwelling tiers.
Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank House is one of Amsterdam’s most moving experiences, having once been used as a warehouse on Prinsengracht canal before it became a museum to pay homage to one of Holland’s darkest chapters in history – Anne Frank and her family went into hiding with them behind their father’s office during World War II in annex behind it. The Anne Frank House serves as a reminder that our histories can sometimes be so cruel, which makes visiting this poignant experience an invaluable one.
The museum takes visitors on an emotional tour from room to room, detailing events leading up to and inside of an annex being built, including diaries, photographs, historical documents and an interactive space allowing for viewing it all in 3D, listening to testimonies and consulting documents – leaving an impactful legacy behind them. This exhibit leaves a sobering legacy behind for all who visit.
During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, two Jewish families with children and a widowed dentist found shelter at Otto Frank’s office premises on Prinsengracht. Otto Frank provided them with food and other supplies through his business; Anne kept a diary detailing her life in hiding as well as her hopes for the future, which was published after World War II had ended. Attracting visitors of all ages, visitors can read Anne Frank’s original diary as well as other written works about the Holocaust at this museum. There are film excerpts and pictures depicting people who helped hide families; there’s even a gift shop and Shelley Winters’ Academy Award from her performance as Anne’s friend Petronella van Daan is displayed behind bulletproof glass case!
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is one of Europe’s premier art museums, housing an astounding collection of Vincent van Gogh’s work as well as that of his contemporaries such as Paul Gauguin and Monet. Over two million people visited in 2012 alone – making it both the Netherlands’ and 23rd most-visited museum worldwide!
The Museum was established in 1973 and comprises two buildings on Museumplein. The main structure, designed by Gerrit Rietveld as the Rietveld building and an important example of De Stijl architecture, houses permanent exhibitions while behind this stands the Kurokawa wing which hosts temporary shows. Both buildings contain cafes and souvenir shops.
Plan ahead when visiting a museum by purchasing tickets online early to avoid long waits and crowds. Booking opens four months ahead, and tickets can be purchased for specific time slots; all museum admission tickets include access to both permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Visitors to the Van Gogh Museum can discover its notable works such as Potato Eaters, The Bedroom and Self-Portrait as an Artist. In addition, visitors can see his extensive collection of letters and belongings that provide more of an in-depth view into his life and artistic journey. A special feature is a reconstruction of Vincent’s asylum room which gives visitors an understanding of Vincent’s emotional and mental struggles.
Be sure to stop at the Van Gogh Museum’s cafe for a cup of coffee or glass of wine during your visit, with stunning views overlooking Museumplein – it’s an ideal place to unwind and take in Amsterdam’s sights!
Stedelijk Museum
The Stedelijk Museum (commonly referred to simply as “the Stedelijk”) is a Dutch collection institute for modern and contemporary art and design, comprising an array of notable designs by designers like Gijs Bakker, Nicolaas van Beek, Onno Boekhoudt Paul Derrez Iris Eichenberg Marion Herbst Beppe Kessler Esther Knobel Lous Martin as well as an exhibit hall that regularly presents intriguing artworks.
Has an exquisite bedroom museum, decorated with bright lights, adjustable ceiling fans, and an expansive church spire. For added serenity and pleasure many visitors enjoy an ambience-creating housing lock equipped with music.
Benthem Crouwel Architects were chosen in 2004 to add an extension to its Museumplein building. Their Bathtub Wing, with its oversized volume and skin of white synthetic fiber, embodied boom-time optimism; touring it today amid bailout discussions and budget constraints in Europe can be quite disorienting.
The Stedelijk’s intelligent, nondiscriminatory curation attracts a diverse group of visitors: intellectuals, Instagrammers, graphic-design fans and all sorts of others are drawn by its quirky layout and exquisite selection of contemporary art and design. The museum takes great pleasure in supporting young artists, hosting an intensive program for creatives. Additionally, research into modernism and city history are pursued here as well. Their archive covers 1895 to 1980 with 1.5 million documents housed within 7,000 folders. In 2009, the museum initiated a digitization initiative of their collection and made available as a public database. They work closely with numerous partners such as Rietveld Academy and Sandberg Institute who organize activities for students.
Housing Silo
At the city’s harbor, an old dock and silo building has been transformed into an apartment complex and commercial structure featuring 157 houses that place emphasis on individuality. MVRDV designed a project consisting of two polychromatic apartment towers stacked upon the water with an adjacent central office block and public spaces arranged into an interlocking grid structure.
The 1896 old Silo has become fully domesticated; apts now populate its narrow ‘caves’ and glazed openings; fill its light-filled attics; line its end-bracketing drying towers; and even line the small gothic round tower! Furthermore, on its quay path stands its former vacuum-pumping house – now hosting public cafe-bar Kroeg; while on the northern end lies a massive concrete 1950’s New Silo containing an externally organized rave event venue featuring only one resident at its summit!
While the collective has maintained much of its initial scope of activity and maintained certain unique organizational habits – like hosting events rather than living in buildings – they have increasingly opened themselves up to public participation through regular open days for exploring Silos interiors, art/rave events in New-Silo’s basement space, as well as opening their ‘Silo Galerie’ under an old vertical conveyor room.
In order to meet the diverse socio-economic and generational profiles of its inhabitants, this design offers a range of housing types from small flats and courtyard houses up to three-storey lofts – providing students, families, elderly residents and workers from nearby neighbourhoods an array of accommodation types from which they can live together on community projects. Furthermore, shared social and workshop spaces enable residents to collaborate together on shared community efforts.
Railway Station
Pierre Cuypers, architect of Amsterdam landmarks such as the Rijksmuseum and other landmarks, designed this impressive Neo-Renaissance building to open in 1889. Since then, it has undergone significant refurbishment and upgrade work – such as a spectacular new glass roof spanning not only its central terminal area but also bus stops, taxi ranks and kiss & ride spots on either side.
Ticket counters can be found at the western end of the main building along a passageway which lies slightly lower than street level and leads directly to train platforms. Domestic trains use central platforms while two additional ones at the eastern city-side end are solely dedicated for international services.
Once through the ticket gates, you walk down steps into a long corridor running underneath the tracks with escalators and stairs leading up to platforms on both sides of it. Track numbers are always listed in ascending order – walking along this corridor and seeing numbers with lower numbers indicates you are moving toward the front of the station.
The station offers numerous shops, restaurants and cafes as well as money exchange offices and ATMs within and surrounding the terminal. There are also ticket machines which provide quick & easy tickets (touch in/out with contactless bank card).