UPDATE: The 2003 issue of the Rough Guide lists the admission price to the Anne Frankhuis as €6.50; however, this has increased to €7.50 as of 1/1/04.

I strongly recommend that you plan to arrive early for your visit. The Museum contains a number of glass-encased exhibits and ceiling-mounted television monitors running short programs in multiple languages. These would be difficult to see and hear (especially for children) in the presence of large groups, and by 11am, the museum was quite congested with local students obviously on a day field trip. In addition, there was another group of 25 unruly children outside the Museum waiting in line to enter.

If your schedule permits it, plan to visit the Museum on a Monday. Afterward, for a genuine local experience, walk along the Prinsengracht and visit the Noordermarkt. Vendors sell all kinds of new and used items at this flea market. Then visit the neighboring Noorderkerk and marvel at the church's beautiful interior and floor panels that double as pre-1700 gravestones.

Behind the bookcase is another staircase. Up this case, you enter a series of room which don't share the luxuries of wallpaper and are poorly lit. It is these rooms where the Franks lived in hiding. There are little descriptions in these rooms to illustrate how the rooms fit into the diary. For instance, over Anne's collection of newspaper clippings (of famous actors and favorites), it reminds people how Anne would think of her pictures. There are also descriptions of why the rooms are the way they are. For instance, telling about the heavy sheets over the windows so others couldn't see the hidden residents. These are probably the most emotional rooms of the complex.

Moving across towards the front of the next building (as the house next door is an annex now to the museum), there is a room discussing the reaches of the diary and discussing racial strife that is still alive in the world. There is one section that focuses on Neo-Nazis and how some still are convinced (and are trying to convince others) that the Holocaust never happened and that Anne Frank is a fictional character.

This museum is moving and informative. As somebody who is interested in WWII and in racial relations, I find the Anne Frank house a must to visit.

"Is Anne about?"
"No. She’s gone away."

The door opens and so you can see that everything moveable has gone. Nothing is left but scraps and dust and echoes.

I found the house -- the museum -- very crowded. We inched along, queuing in silence round the edges of the rooms, everyone minutely examining the walls as if they expected to find, in tiny, un-noticed letters, some note explaining why Anne’s life ended as it did.

The exhibition is stark –- there are a very few artefacts: ration books, identity cards, the odd photo. Traces of the families remain on the walls –- Anne’s pictures, the children’s heights pencilled near the door, a map marking the allies’ progress.

In the last room, there were also about forty editions of the book in all different languages -– I was intrigued by all the different ways Anne Frank is portrayed. Some cover designers use a photo, one made her look like a very little girl clutching a doll, while others have her as a grave young lady. Seeing the diaries themselves seemed almost an afterthought. The tartan book was rather smaller than I imagined, a bit more faded, but while I looked, it suddenly seemed to me that it would be a long time before I saw anything more precious.

This museum is harrowing, particularly if you are a fan of the books. Don’t try to cram it into an afternoon. Go first thing, take your time, and spend the rest of the day doing something quiet and easy.

Open: daily (September 2 to March 28) 9am to 7pm, (March 29 to September 1) 9am to 9pm

Last admittance: 30 minutes prior to closing.
Closed on Yom Kippur.

Steep stairways not accessible to those with mobility problems.

Trams: no. 13 or 17; buses: no. 21, 170, 171, or 172 to the Westermarket stop
Auto: highway (A10) to exit Centrum (S105)

Telephone: +31 (0)20-5567100

Fax: +31 (0)20-6207999