Het Scheepvaartmuseum

Scheepvaartmuseum

Het Scheepvaartmuseum (The National Maritime Museum) is situated in a former naval storehouse at the river IJ in the Plantage area close to Amsterdam Central Station. The museum offers a large and impressive collection about the Dutch maritime history over 500 years. The museum exhibits paintings, ship models, weapons, world maps and much more. And outside the museum, at the quay, the famous ship ‘Amsterdam’ is docked. This is a replica of an 18^th century ship, sailed between the East Indies and the Netherlands. After a large renovation of 4 years, het Scheepvaartmuseum opened its doors again in 2011.

The building itself has a large history. When Amsterdam was the largest port in the world back in 1656, it was built as a warehouse to store cannons, sails, flags and ship equipment for the war fleet. To supply drinking water for the ships, they saved rain water in the barrel vaults under the courtyard. Although a fire burned down the whole building in 1791, the place got rebuilt and maintained its function as a storehouse for the marine until the 70’s. In 1973, the building officially became a national museum, nowadays known as Het Scheepvaartmuseum. Because of the growing numbers of museum visitors (and the state of the building) the museum got renovated during 4 years and opened again in 2011.

Het Scheepvaartmuseum is an interesting museum for people of all ages. Several guided tours are offered and kids’ birthdays can be celebrated here. They even have exhibitions especially for kids. The museum is an amazing place for events of all kind. And even without a ticket, you are welcomed in the museum to visit the courtyard, the museum shop, the restaurant (‘Stalpaert’) and the library.

 Admission tickets & discounts:
Adults EUR 15.00 – Children 0-4 FREE Children 5-18 EUR 7.50
TICKETS    

Map & Directions Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam