The Building

Appropriately housed in a monumental 17th century rigging house of the Amsterdam Admiralty, the Maritime Museum (Scheepvaartmuseum) explains the history and techniques of navigation and overseas trade that were the driving force behind the Dutch Golden Age. 

Exhibition

You will see room after room of ships and ship models, seascapes, navigational instruments, prints, paintings, and old maps, including a 15th-century Ptolemaic atlas and a lavishly bound edition of the Great Atlas, or Description of the World, produced over a lifetime by Jan Blaeu, who was the stay-at-home master cartographer of Holland's Golden Age. All the exhibits chronicle Holland's abiding ties to the sea through commerce, fishing, yachting, exploration, and war. Among the important papers on display are several pertaining to the Dutch colonies of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City) and Nieuw Nederland (New York State), including a receipt for the land that now surrounds the New York State capital at Albany. 

Just outside the museum, a very famous old ship is moored: the United East Indian Company ship 'Amsterdam.' You can wander around the ship and visit the various quarters. Actors provide a 'life-like' impression of life on board the Amsterdam. 
From April to October the captain and his sailors are at work on the ship. They clean and scrub the deck, they sing sea chanteys and they will tell you all about their adventures. Twice a day they fire the cannon. So keep your eyes and ears open! 

Treat your kids to an age-old youthful fantasy in Treasure Island, an exhibit that runs at the museum through January 5, 2003. It aims to answer questions like what pirates really were like and how ships were navigated in former times. The children will be aided by an old sea dog from the 17th century, Willem van der Zaan, who has fallen on hard times. The exhibition is suitable for children age from around 10 and up. 

Super Fast Ship

Clippers are very fast sailing ships. In the old days, they sailed from one continent to another in record time. Today, the speed of clippers still appeals to the imagination. In the second half of the nineteenth century, these ships came to dominate the principal trade routes. Competition was fierce. Speed was crucial. A real clipper was built at the Maritime Museum. The clipper 'Stad Amsterdam' was officially introduced during Sail 2000. 

Location

Netherlands Maritime Museum Amsterdam

Kattenburgerplein 1

1018 KK Amsterdam