Hey! I have started describing Netherlands last week and then had some busy days, while on top of that being away from home for some of those. That made me miss out on some days of posting, but I am back now and ready to present to you some more of Amsterda - the capital of the country I live in!
I think the series about the Netherlands should go on at least for a few weeks and then I will move on to the next ones - I just got some extra content, as I spent my Valentine's Day with my girlfriend in Ghent - a stunning city in Belgium that I absolutely fell in love with. I cannot wait to write some posts about that trip!
Museumplein
The most famous museums (musea? I suck at plurals) of Amsterdam are all very conveniently placed in the same area. Even more conveniently - it is called the Museumplein - so the Museum Square. Could it be any easier?
Amsterdam in general has a ton of them. You could spend a whole week in the city and if you want to see all the museums, you'd end up having almost no time to do anything else. They also come with a lot of variety - there are very thematic ones that focus on one subject or an artist, there are ones that are tilted towards the fun aspect, but also those that will satisfy art and history lovers.
Museumplein itself though has the most popular ones. The highlight is of course the Rijksmuseum, which has to be visited by every art lover. It has over five thousand art pieces by both Dutch as well as international artists, the centerpiece being the art of Rembrandt himself. It is located right at the entrance of the Museumplein. Do not miss this one if you are into art - you will love it!
Because I go to Amsterdam a lot.. I don't take many pictures. This leads to this being the ONLY picture of the Rijksmuseum I own.
Some of the other museums that you can find on the square are the Van Gogh Museum, as well as the Stedelijk Museum. The former, as the name suggests, is a collection of art created by Vincent van Gogh, while the latter is much more contemporary. That said, I cannot vouch for either, as I simply haven't entered those - might do so next time I go!
I do want to talk about the Moco Museum though, as that is one I have visited very recently - just under a month ago! It focuses on modern and contemporary art and has multiple rooms with thematic exhibitions inside of them. That includes artists such as Banksy, THE KID and many more. The most recent addition (or I think it is the most recent) is a 2-room exhibition with NFT art, which was quite interesting to me. Lots of the other rooms are focused on inspirational messages from the youth rebelling against the system or injustices of the world.
Much of the art in the current MOCO setup is in this vein.
There were also these artistic rooms at the end that played around with your perception and vision a little. This one had tons of mirrors and diamonds.
.. And these played around with the wall decor dynamics.
Madame Tussauds and Ripley's
Some more fun and quirk focused museums can be found closer to the very centre of the city, with Madame Tussauds and Ripley's Believe It Or Not being the prime examples. I have entered both and absolutely loved the latter, as it presented some really fun exhibits and was quite entertaining the whole way. That said, Madame Tussauds is also cool, although the wax museum isn't completely my thing.
Madame Tussauds is quite a pricey endeavor, but I gotta say it is quite a large building with a lot of exhibits. You get to meet tons of wax versions of celebrities, historical figures and artists as you walk through the rooms, taking photos and admiring the works of art. Some of the characters you can meet include Captain America, Ariana Grande, Shrek's Fiona, Barrack Obama and Donald Trump, as well as Marilyn Monroe! Here's some photos, but not too much so you can see for yourself when you're there.
Ripley's is my preferred choice though as it shows so many different, but all interesting things. The exhibits in Ripley's are different across different cities and countries, but the Amsterdam one has quite a great collection! Many of the items are from the collection of Robert Ripley from across the entire world - and pretty much the only thing that they have in common is that they are unique.
Next to that, you see things straight from the Guinness' Book of Records, such as the tallest man in the world, the heaviest man in the world and more! You can find the Vampire Woman, a huge robot made of car parts and much much more, that you will find out if you do go there. I cannot recommend it enough!
The Rest
This section will be shorter as it includes places I could not go to, but was told were quite interesting - or the opposite. Scattered around the central parts of Amsterdam are tons of thematic museums that sometimes have something to do with the city.. But usually not really.
The prime example of this is the Museum of Prostitution. While I personally was not able to see it yet, my girlfriend has visited and told me that it is an extremely interesting place where you can learn a lot and gather quite some respect towards the ones who do carry out this job.
Some of the others include the Sex Museum, which.. apparently is just not that exciting and more of a way to further financially capitalize on Amsterdam's reputation it has due to the red light district; the torture museum, which is not that special compared to the many other torture museums around the world.
Out of more serious places, you can also find the Anne Frank house, the house of Rembrandt, which also serves as an exhibition dedicated to his work and life, as well as the Jewish Museum. Keep in mind that some of these places can be difficult to get to and need to be booked way in advance - this is especially true in the case of the house of Anne Frank.
Closing Words
Overall, Amsterdam is full of interesting places and museums.. So if you do experience the typical awful Dutch weather, with tons of wind and rain.. Do not fret! There is a ton to do inside and you might even forget that the outdoors exists.
I do personally want to visit more of these before I inevitably move out of the country, as I know I won't be too likely to come to Amsterdam as often once I am not in the Netherlands anymore. I think many of the museums are worth visiting, as they contain great art and a huge deal of history!