Amsterdam Weekend

Rijksmuseum

Attraction | "Masterpieces"

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Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is the best known and the largest of the Dutch Rijksmuseums (this name actually just means National Museum). It has a vast collection of art, particularly from the Golden Age of the Dutch painting as well as numerous craft objects and historical artefacts. It also has a large collection of Asian art. The Rijksmuseum is, in fact, Holland's equivalent of the Louvre, and is as much a national gallery of paintings as a depository of historical finds. What the Rijksmuseum is best known for, is, however, it's outstanding collection of the paintings from the Netherlands' Golden Age, and particularly masterpieces by Jacob van Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Jan S...Read More

Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is the best known and the largest of the Dutch Rijksmuseums (this name actually just means National Museum). It has a vast collection of art, particularly from the Golden Age of the Dutch painting as well as numerous craft objects and historical artefacts. It also has a large collection of Asian art.

The Rijksmuseum is, in fact, Holland's equivalent of the Louvre, and is as much a national gallery of paintings as a depository of historical finds. What the Rijksmuseum is best known for, is, however, it's outstanding collection of the paintings from the Netherlands' Golden Age, and particularly masterpieces by Jacob van Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen and Rembrandt – including his iconic Night Watch.

At the time of writing, as it was at the time of our visit (2010), the Rijksmuseum is undergoing an extensive refurbishment which is expected to take until at least 2013 (this was extended from the initial estimate of 2012), and possibly longer and thus majority of its collection is not available to view. However, it still displays a very good selection of the most known, loved and interesting works in an exhibition called "The Masterpieces". This exhibition alone makes the Rijksmuseum worth visiting by anybody with even the least interest in art. In fact, the choice character of the displays means that the condensation of genius and a number of truly remarkable paintings displayed is staggering: almost every single work is of interest and beauty here.

The highlights of The Masterpieces exhibition include some truly remarkable work. The eponymous and iconic Night Watch is of course included, in a special room of its own, and always draws large number of viewers. It is an impressive painting indeed, and important for understanding Rembrandt's body of work, but the Rijksmuseum's exhibition has also several other, and, arguably, better Rembrandts, particularly the most wonderful Isaac and Rebecca (known as The Jewish Bride) and Rembrandt's self-portraits.
There are also a few wonderfully luminous Vermeers, intimate scenes of Gerard ter Broch, many landscapes representative of the Dutch school and one of the most fascinating still lives ever painted, Still Life with a Bridle by Johannes Torrentius.

The whole exhibition really gives an excellent insight into this amazing development that took place in the Netherlands in the 17th century, where the small merchant republic became a world economic and financial powerhouse as well as stimulated amazing explosion of flourishing art that still delights and fascinates the viewers.
In addition to the paintings there are also displays of the famous Dutch
pottery as well as fascinating Dolls' Houses (not toys, by any means).

Rijksmuseum, The Masterpieces exhibition is open every day from 9:00 to 18:00 (last tickets sold at 17.30). Tickets cost 12,50 Euro for adults, but children and teenagers under eighteen are free. There are queues, so it might be a good idea to pre-book your ticket online through the Museum's website.

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on December 5, 2010

Rijksmuseum
Stadhouderskade 42
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1071 ZD
+31 20 674 70 00

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Amsterdam Top 10

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Amsterdam canal Photo - Amsterdam, Netherlands

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People come to Amsterdam for all kinds of reasons: to see paintings and to get stoned, to admire the 18th century canal houses and to see the best examples of the modernist style, to eat Indonesian food and to sample the dubious delights of the Red Light District. Many days are needed to see everything – but some things are unmissable for anybody who wants to get the taste of the city in all its variety: thus the top ten things to see and do in Amsterdam, in no particular order, and probably more suited to a slightly more mature kind of visitor than a member of a 20-something stag or hen party. 1) Walk the Grachtengordel: a sequence of five canals that extend from Brouwersgrach...Read More

People come to Amsterdam for all kinds of reasons: to see paintings and to get stoned, to admire the 18th century canal houses and to see the best examples of the modernist style, to eat Indonesian food and to sample the dubious delights of the Red Light District.

Many days are needed to see everything – but some things are unmissable for anybody who wants to get the taste of the city in all its variety: thus the top ten things to see and do in Amsterdam, in no particular order, and probably more suited to a slightly more mature kind of visitor than a member of a 20-something stag or hen party.

1) Walk the Grachtengordel: a sequence of five canals that extend from Brouwersgracht to the River Amstel in a "belt of canals" or Grachtengordel.. This is how Amsterdam is often imagined and this how – surprisingly, as the reality is often different from the images – it really looks like. It's a strikingly attractive townscape, with grey-green canals overlooked by rows of beautiful canal houses, mostly dating to 17th and 18th centuries. The three main canals are Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht , and the picturesque canal-land stretches to hip area of Jordaan, west of the very centre.

2) Still on the aquatic note, take a canal boat tour (or use it as a means of transportation combining practical with the pleasurable). Canal Bus is the best, offering three routes through three different parts of the city. If you already covered the south and the west as per previous tip, take the blue line that will take you to the eastern docks and the heart of maritime Amsterdam. Tickets cost 20 euro and allow for unlimited usage for 24 hours.

3) See some art: Holland produced some of the best known and most influential painters of the Western world, and Amsterdam has a fantastic selection of museums devoted to art ancient and modern. Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum (with Rembrandt and Vermeer) and the Stedelijk (with Mondrian) are the most obvious – for a good reason – picks.

4) Eat Indonesian food. The most popular "exotic" cuisines come from the former colonies in all countries that had those, and Holland had Indonesia with its spice trade. The colony is no more, but Amsterdam has a wonderful selection of Indonesian restaurants. Ask for a rijsttafel – a sample menu vaguely reminiscent of Southern European meze of tapas.

5) See some modernist and newer architecture, for example 1920 de Klerk's Het Schip housing complex (now a museum) or the science centre Nemo and nearby ARCAM building. If you are particularly interested, set out to Java Island to see a contemporary take on the canal house, or the almost brutalist housing complex The Whale.

6) Have a beer or a cup of coffee and an apple tart with cream in one of Amsterdam's "brown cafes" (cafe bruin) – they are as much pubs as cafes, actually, and provide the most traditional, cosy and inviting place for a quiet break in a touring schedule. A beer will likely set you back about 4-5 euro, so it's not a cheap past-time.

7) Have a walk through the Red Light District: not to sample the wares on offer, but to see what is, after all, a tourist attraction in itself. Still sleazy and seedy, despite great inroads made for the working rights of the working girls, and perhaps not a place to hang around for long, but worth a stroll in the early hours of the evening even if just to say you have been there and done that.

8) Visit the Resistance Museum: it's more better than the slightly overrated Anne Frank House and presents the story of the Dutch people during the Second World War in an admirably clear, informative and moving display combining historical facts and personal accounts: and the fate of the Dutch Jews is extensively covered too.

9) Walk along the Flower Market by the Singel canal: you can admire the countless varieties of the tulips (and few others) and fulfil all your souvenir and tourist tat buying needs here as the stalls and shops sell bulbs, porcelain clogs and various windmill-decorated items galore.

10) Have a peek into a coffee shop. Amsterdam is unique and well known in that allows licensed and legal use of cannabis. Even if you have no intentions of using any hash or marijuana, a look at one of those establishments (with menus listing the wares by name, origin and price) which for many -especially young - visitors are the main draw of Amsterdam.
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Amsterdam Museum Picks

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Amsterdam has over 50 museums, covering everything from Van Gogh to prostitution, Rembrandt to beer, diamonds to Anne Frank, modern art to marijuana. You are not likely to want - or be able to - visit all or even most of them during your visit, but you are likely to find something of interest in the sheer variety of them all: below is a pick of the best we visited. 1) Van Gogh Museum houses a huge permanent collection of his work in chronological order, a small gallery of his contemporaries and changeable temporary exhibitions on a particular theme, location or period. It's beautifully laid out and with plenty of information that sheds light not only on Van Gogh's development as an a...Read More

Amsterdam has over 50 museums, covering everything from Van Gogh to prostitution, Rembrandt to beer, diamonds to Anne Frank, modern art to marijuana. You are not likely to want - or be able to - visit all or even most of them during your visit, but you are likely to find something of interest in the sheer variety of them all: below is a pick of the best we visited.

1) Van Gogh Museum houses a huge permanent collection of his work in chronological order, a small gallery of his contemporaries and changeable temporary exhibitions on a particular theme, location or period. It's beautifully laid out and with plenty of information that sheds light not only on Van Gogh's development as an artist, but his whole life and the art world of his time. It's busy (with frequent queues) and expensive (15 euro) but well worth visiting.

2) Rijksmuseum is at the time of writing undergoing an extensive refurbishment which is expected to last until at least 2012, but it still displays a selection of the most known, loved and interesting works in an exhibition entitled "The Masterpieces" and for this exhibition alone should be visited by anybody with the scantiest interest in art. Some truly remarkable work is displayed here, from the eponymous Night Watch and other (and arguably, better) Rembrandts to Franz Hals to wonderfully luminous Vermeers.

3) Stedelijk is the must-see museum for modern and contemporary art: due to re-open in renovated premises in 2010, the musuem still maintains presence at a selection of temporary venues around Amsterdam. The collection features cutting edge new artists as well as a works from Monet, Cezanne, and of course a great showing for Mondrian.

4) Dutch Resistance Museum has been chosen as the best historical museum of the Netherlands, and rightly so: it recounts the story not just of the resistance, but of the whole German occupation of the Netherlands in Word War 2. What was the national response? How was the resistance started? Who resisted and why? The displays are incredibly well presented, mixing historical fact, social background and personal stories of real people. A lot of the info is provided in English and the whole is compelling and very enlightening. Even if you are not particularly interested in the WW2 or history, it's still very worth visiting.

5) The Willet-Holthuysen Museum is a houses of the Amsterdam rich merchant and allows for a peek into the life of those who used to inhabit those magnificent canal houses in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time of our visit an exhibition on fans was also held there!

6) Anne Frank's House combines the detailed presentation about the fate of the teenage diarist and her family with more general information about the Holocaust in the Netherlands, and although initial impression might be of a slightly undignified tourist trap, the actual result is dignified, moving and informative: the enormity of the Jews' extermination doesn't is shown through the focus on an individual case but rarely if even becomes sentimental or simplistic.

There are many more - from the world-class photography centre FOAM to the museum of Hash, Hemp and Marijuana to Historical Museum of Amsterdam to Prostitution Information Centre to one devoted to the local football club Ajax to Heineken Experience to Museum of the Tropic, plus numerous small and medium exhibitions and displays catering for a huge variety of interests and tastes, Amsterdam museums have a lot to offer and every visitor should find one - and probably more - that will capture his attention and imagination.

I certainly want to go back and see some more.

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Guidebook reviews: Rough Guide to Amsterdam

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This Rough Guide is as comprehensive, up to date and well researched as most if not all Rough Guides seem to be. I have used numerous examples of their guides and I found them to be among the best if not the best ones there are. They do seem to have moved upmarket a bit since I first started to use them in the early 90s - but they still provide the best balance in descriptions covering practicalities, context, history, sightseeing, entertainment, drinking, clubbing and even (in Amsterdam at least) dope smoking. The introduction is to the usual Rough Guide standards, with all general info a traveller to the Netherlands in general, and to Amsterdam in particular might wish to have. ...Read More

This Rough Guide is as comprehensive, up to date and well researched as most if not all Rough Guides seem to be. I have used numerous examples of their guides and I found them to be among the best if not the best ones there are. They do seem to have moved upmarket a bit since I first started to use them in the early 90s - but they still provide the best balance in descriptions covering practicalities, context, history, sightseeing, entertainment, drinking, clubbing and even (in Amsterdam at least) dope smoking.

The introduction is to the usual Rough Guide standards, with all general info a traveller to the Netherlands in general, and to Amsterdam in particular might wish to have.

The main guide section, which provides descriptions of the city and its sights is excellent. Amsterdam is divided into several naturally separating chunks and the guide provides a description and historical background to the areas, takes the reader on a walk throughout each of them and informs in fair depth on all significant and many minor sights and attractions.

As most Rough Guides are, and as all good guides should be, this one is opinionated and doesn't avoid giving recommendation nor damning with faint praise when necessary.

In addition to the general, the guide has good sections for visitors with children and an extensive section devoted to gay Amsterdam (though Amsterdam being Amsterdam, this separation perhaps wasn't even necessary).

We used this volume during our visit in February 2009, and I can't think of one part or entry that I would disagree with. Even the practicalities of the museum closures were all covered and up to date, although all prices were already slightly higher (but that is to be expected). The colour maps were incredibly useful.

The only reason I can't possibly give it full five stars and I was even contemplating giving three is the layout. The whole book is divided into sections within sections within sections.

And thus, we have a sightseeing section, accounted for above, and very sensibly, divided into city districts. Then we have accommodation section, and that is also divided into districts. So far, not so bad. After all, accommodation is organised once or twice, the over and done with, while sightseeing is an ongoing process. There is nothing wrong with separating the two.

But then we listings and reviews for restaurants, bars and cafs. And each of those categories is GIVEN ITS OWN SECTION. And each of those is separated into districts. This was really, really impractical, especially as (at least during the day) the difference between restaurant, caf or bar is not that great for practical purposes. In order to find a place to eat lunch or snack or stop for a coffee, I had to first check the bars for a given district, then skip over bars in all other districts to find the cafs in mine, then skip over cafs in all other districts to find restaurants. Finding anything (especially on the go!) means either manipulating several bookmarks/bent pages or furiously thumbing the pages as you walk straight into a canal.

It would have been much better to have all the listings (separated into types of venues) in one place, ideally after the sightseeing text. This is a much more natural system, as it doesn't assume that sightseeing is separate from eating and that eating is separate from drinking. It would also allow a visitor who wished to do so to split the book (physically) into sections to lower the weight to carry on any given day.

With this one caveat, I can still recommend The Rough Guide to Amsterdam to all visitors: it's comprehensive, informative, opinionated and is bound to be useful regardless of what brings you to the city on the Amstel. Read Less

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Boat, Bike, Tram and Bus: Transport in Amsterdam

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Boat ride Photo - Amsterdam, Netherlands

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It's easy – and pleasant too - to walk or cycle in Amsterdam, while public transportation system includes excellent tram network, metro (subway) and canal bus boats.The centre of Amsterdam, where most of the attractions, sights, entertainment and night-life is concentrated, is easily walkable. In fact, walking round Amsterdam, with its picturesque water-side streets lined with traditional canal houses, is one of the greatest pleasures of Amsterdam and an attraction in itself. **You can also do as many locals do and cycle: bike hire places are widely available and designated cycle lanes are everywhere. Expect to pay around 4 euro an hour, 10 euro a day or 30-40 euro ...Read More

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Amsterdam House Hotel BV

Hotel | "Shabby Chic by the Amstel"

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We went to Amsterdam in mid February 2009 and as usual, attempted to book a room about two days before our departure. I left the task to DH for a change and I am glad I did because after seeing prices I probably would have broken down or ended up booking something twenty miles out of the city. As it was, we ended up in the very center. ===Price===We arrived on a Saturday, and stayed until Wednesday. The rate varied from something in the region of 120 to around 75 euro depending on the night, with the Saturday being by far the most expensive (we have haggled quite a bit to get to the 75 euro), and bearing in mind that during our trip the exchange rate for sterling wa...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 8, 2009

Amsterdam House Hotel BV
Gravelandseveer 3-4
Amsterdam, Netherlands
+31(0)20 624 6607

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Amsterdam Weekend

Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam Top 10

Amsterdam Museum Picks

Guidebook reviews: Rough Guide to Amsterdam

Boat, Bike, Tram and Bus: Transport in Amsterdam

Amsterdam House Hotel BV

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