Museums and Galleries
For the culturally inclined on Netherlands vacations, Amsterdam has a number of excellent art galleries. The principal gallery is the Rijksmuseum. Recently modernized, it possesses many masterpiece paintings of Dutch and World art including Rembrandt’s “Night watch”. The Van Gogh Museum contains the World’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh with more than 200 paintings and 500 drawings. The nearby Stedelijk Museum has one of the richest modern art collections in the World.
Two other major museums of importance on an Amsterdam vacation are the Anne Frank House and the Rembrandt House. The former is where Anne Frank and her family lived in the annex of the building for two years hiding from the Nazis. Nowadays, the rooms at the Anne Frank House, though empty, still breathe the atmosphere of that period of time. The Rembrandt House is not an art gallery but is where the artist lived between 1639 and 1658. The house is a reconstruction of the painter’s life at that time.
Something totally different is the Heineken Experience. The museum part of the brewery shows authentic interiors, old photographs and state decorations the Heineken family received. Another unusual site (and sight) is the Red Light District. Perhaps not on everyone’s visitation list, but it is still a colourful and safe area to walk around. The Begijnhof is entered via a narrow, vaulted passageway which leads to a charming garden surrounded by old houses. It was once occupied by devout celibate Begijn nuns but is now home to needy single women.
