Tag: history of amsterdam

Day 3 in Amsterdam – The Canal House Museum

After visiting the Amsterdam Museum, we headed to the Canal House Museum, known as the “Museum of the Canals” or “Het Grachtenhuis“. The museum is located in an old house along an older portion of canals and it was delightful. While visiting Amsterdam we visited many museums, and we found nearly all of them to be incredibly well-curated.

The Canal House Museum was one of our favourites. They made particularly good use of audio visual effects to tell the story of Amsterdam’s architecture as it relates to the canals and the houses built alongside them.

Here’s bit of information from Wikipedia about the Amsterdam Canals:

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has more than one hundred kilometers of grachten (canals), about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals (Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht), dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. Much of the Amsterdam canal system is the successful outcome of city planning. In the early part of the 17th century, with immigration rising, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals with their ends resting on the IJ Bay. Known as the “grachtengordel”,^[5] three of the canals are mostly for residential development (Herengracht or ‘’Patricians’ Canal’’; Keizersgracht or ‘’Emperor’s Canal’’; and Prinsengracht or ‘’Prince’s Canal’’), and a fourth, outer canal, the Singelgracht, for purposes of defense and water management. The plan also envisaged interconnecting canals along radii.

As you can tell, the Canal House Museum is the perfect follow up to the Amsterdam Museum. To get a sense of how the museum looks, check out this video:

Th Canal House Museum is a must-see for anyone interested in urban planning or anthropology, or even just those of you who love quality museums. Check it out if you can! See below for a few photos from our visit.

January 9, 2018
Day 3 in Amsterdam – Visiting the Amsterdam Museum

Our third day in Amsterdam was a full day, and it started quite early. We were up by 7am and out the door to explore the city and find breakfast by 7:30am. Given how quiet we’d noted the nightlife to be the previous evening, we had suspected the city would be bustling in the early morning, but that was not the case in reality.

In fact, the city was very quiet, and there was hardly anyone outside. We walked along the canal that would later host the Pride Parade and noted a few early birds setting up their floats or their viewing spots, but the city was mostly calm. We managed to find one breakfast place open. After a delicious meal, we headed to the first of many museums for the day: The Amsterdam Museum.

When we travel to a new city, we like to start with learning about the history of that city, as the city itself chooses to present. We’re both hoping that one day Toronto gets a similar institution to showcase our history for visitors; the courts currently housed in the Old City Hall will be moving out shortly, hopefully a Toronto Museum will move in!

As for the Amsterdam Museum… again, we arrived too early, so we had a coffee around the corner, and then later went back for some learning.

The Amsterdam Museum is all about the history of Amsterdam and how the city came to be. It’s located in the old historic city centre, in a building that once housed a municipal orphanage.

The museum begins with lessons on the city’s founding, and then evolves into exhibits on the modern features of Amsterdam, including a couple of interactive exhibits about what the city’s future should include.

The history of the city was well presented and it told an interesting tale. While most other European communities at the time were ruled by royalty, Amsterdam’s power was held by groups of regents, and membership in the ruling class was somewhat accessible. Relative to other cities in Europe at the time, Amsterdam was also know to be quite tolerant of religious diversity, and thus it was a popular destination among immigrants.

There’s much more to all this, and it’s described in greater detail on Wikipedia – check it out!

If you’re going to Amsterdam but you don’t know much about the city itself, this museum is well worth visiting. See below for photos from our early morning adventures and our time at the Amsterdam Museum!

early morning, quiet canals

still charging stations everywhere!

and more old cars!

getting close to the museum in the old city centre

here we are!

starting out with some fashions from back in the day

an absurbly extravagant animal tusk, courtesy of colonialism

learning!

visiting an exhibit

The Amsterdam Coat of Arms, found all over the city

one of the modern exhibits

Let’s hit the road!

January 2, 2018