Amsterdam Directions Read online

  Wertheimpark

  The pocket-sized Wertheimpark, across the road from the Hortus Botanicus, is home to the Auschwitz monument, a simple affair with symbolically broken mirrors and an inscription that reads Nooit meer Auschwitz ("Auschwitz – Never Again"). It was designed by the Dutch writer Jan Wolkers.

  De Hollandsche Schouwburg

  Plantage Middenlaan 24. Daily 11am–4pm except Yom Kippur. Free.

  Another sad relic of the war, De Hollandsche Schouwburg was once a thriving Jewish theatre, but the Germans turned it into the main assembly point for Amsterdam Jews prior to their deportation. Inside, there was no daylight and families were interned in conditions that foreshadowed those of the camps they would soon be taken to. The building has been refurbished to house a small exhibition on the plight of the city’s Jews, but the old auditorium out at the back has been left as an empty, roofless shell. A memorial column of basalt on a Star of David base stands where the stage once was, an intensely mournful monument to suffering of unfathomable proportions.

  Artis Zoo

  Plantage Kerklaan 38–40; tel 020/523 3400, www.artis.nl. Daily: April to mid-Oct 9am–6pm; mid-Oct to March 9am–5pm. €14.50, 3- to 9-year-olds €11.

  Opened in 1838, Artis Zoo is the oldest zoo in the country, and is now one of the city’s top tourist attractions, though thankfully its layout and refreshing lack of bars and cages mean that it never feels overcrowded. Highlights include an African savanna environment, a seventy-metre-long aviary, aquaria and a South American zone with llamas and the world’s largest rodent, the capibara. In addition, the on-site Planetarium has five or six shows daily, all in Dutch, though you can pick up a leaflet with an English translation from the desk. Feeding times – always popular – are as follows: 11am birds of prey; 11.30am and 3.45pm seals and sea lions; 2pm pelicans; 2.30pm crocodiles (Sun only); 3pm lions and tigers (not Fri); 3.30pm penguins.

  Vakbondsmuseum

  Henri Polaklaan 9. Tues–Fri 11am–5pm, Sun 1–5pm. €4.

  The Vakbondsmuseum (Trade Union Museum) contains a small exhibition of documents, cuttings and photos relating to the Dutch labour movement, with a section devoted to Henri Polak, the leader of the Diamond Workers’ Union and the man responsible for coordinating the successful campaign for the eight-hour working day.

  However, the building is actually rather more interesting than the exhibition. Built by Berlage for the Diamond Workers’ Union in 1900, it was designed in a distinctive style that incorporated Romanesque features within an Expressionist framework. The striking, brightly coloured interior develops these themes with a beautiful mixture of stained-glass windows, stone arches, painted brickwork and patterned tiles. From the outside, the building looks like a fortified mansion, hence its old nickname the Rode Burgt ("Red Stronghold"). This design was not just about Berlage’s whims. Acting on behalf of the employers, the police – and sometimes armed scabs – were regularly used to break strikes, and the union believed that members could hold out here in relative safety, which they did on more than one occasion.

  Verzetsmuseum

  Plantage Kerklaan 61 www.verzetsmuseum.org. Tues–Fri 10am–5pm, Mon, Sat & Sun noon–5pm. €5.

  The excellent Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) outlines the development of the Dutch Resistance from the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 to the country’s liberation in 1945. Thoughtfully presented, the main gangway examines the experience of the majority of the population, dealing honestly with the fine balance between cooperation and collaboration. Side rooms are devoted to different aspects of the resistance, from the brave determination of the Communist Party, who went underground as soon as the Germans arrived, to more ad hoc responses like the so-called Milk Strike of 1943, when hundreds of milk producers refused to deliver.

  Fascinating old photographs illustrate the (English and Dutch) text along with a host of original artefacts, from examples of illegal newsletters to signed German death warrants. Apart from their treatment of the Jews, which is detailed here, perhaps the most chilling feature of the occupation was the use of indiscriminate reprisals to terrify the population. The museum has dozens of little metal sheets providing biographical sketches of the members of the Resistance – and it’s this mixture of the general and the personal that is its real strength.

  The Oosterdok

  Just to the north of the Plantagebuurt lies the Oosterdok, whose network of artificial islands was dredged out of the River IJ to increase Amsterdam’s shipping facilities in the seventeenth century. By the 1980s, this mosaic of docks, jetties and islands had become something of a post-industrial eyesore, but since then an ambitious redevelopment programme has turned things around and the area is now dotted with worthwhile attractions, principally the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum. Easily the most agreeable way of reaching the Oosterdok is via the footbridge at the north end of Plantage Kerklaan – metres from the Verzetsmuseum – which leads to the Entrepotdok.

  Entrepotdok

  Over the footbridge at the end of Plantage Kerklaan lies the most interesting of the Oosterdok islands, a slender rectangle whose southern quayside, Entrepotdok, is lined by a long series of nineteenth-century gabled warehouses that were once part of the largest warehouse complex in continental Europe, a gigantic customs-free zone established for goods in transit. On the ground floor, above the main entrance, each warehouse sports the name of a town or island; goods for onward transportation were stored in the appropriate warehouse until there were enough to fill a boat or barge. The warehouses have been tastefully converted into offices and apartments, a fate that must surely befall the central East India Company compound, whose chunky Neoclassical entrance is at the west end of Entrepotdok on Kadijksplein.

  The Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum

  Kattenburgerplein www.scheepvaartmuseum.nl. Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; mid-June to mid-Sept also Mon 10am–5pm. €7.50.

  From Kadijksplein, it’s the briefest of strolls over to the conspicuous Nederlands Scheepvaart museum (Netherlands Maritime Museum), which occupies the old arsenal of the Dutch navy, a vast sandstone structure that is underpinned by no less than 18,000 wooden piles driven deep into the river bed at enormous expense in the 1650s.

  It’s the perfect location for a maritime museum, though to the non-specialist the sheer number of ship models can be a tad repetitive. The collection is spread over three floors, beginning on the ground floor which is used to host temporary exhibitions as well as a flashy gilded barge built for King William I of the Netherlands in 1818. The next floor up, largely devoted to shipping in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is the best, and includes garish ships’ figureheads and tillers, examples of early atlases and navigational equipment, and finely detailed models of the clippers of the East India Company, then the fastest ships in the world. There are a number of nautical paintings too, the best by Willem van de Velde II (or The Younger; 1633–1707), who was the most successful of the Dutch marine painters of the period. His canvases emphasize the strength and power of the Dutch warship, often depicted in battle or amidst turbulent seas. The final floor is devoted to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once again there are models galore, but the paintings are perhaps more enjoyable, melodramatic canvases of stormy seas and brave sailing ships. Outside, moored at the museum jetty, is the most popular exhibit by a long chalk, a full-scale replica of an East Indiaman, the Amsterdam, that is crewed by enthusiastic nautical actors.

  ARCAM

  Prins Hendrikkade 600; tel 020/620 4878, www.arcam.nl. Tues–Sat 1–5pm. Free.

  Strolling west from the Maritime Museum along the waterfront, you’ll soon spy the idiosyncratic hood-shaped structure that has been built to house the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture, otherwise ARCAM. There are architectural displays here, sometimes of a theoretical nature and sometimes forewarning the city of what its architects have in mind, as well as public lectures and discussions.

  NEMO

  Prins Hendrikkade; tel 0900/9191100, www.e-nem
o.nl.

  Tues–Sun 10am–5pm, plus Mon 10am–5pm during school holidays, July & Aug. €11. Back outside the ARCAM building, the foreground is dominated by a massive elevated hood that rears up above the entrance to the IJ tunnel. A good part of this is occupied by the large and lavish NEMO centre, a (pre-teenage) kids’ attraction par excellence, with all sorts of interactive science and technological exhibits spread over six floors and set out under four broad themes: Physics, Technology, Information Technology and Bio-science behaviour.

  The De Gooyer Windmill

  Funenkade 5.

  East of the Maritime Museum along Hoogte Kadijk is the De Gooyer Windmill, standing tall beside a long and slender canal. Amsterdam was once dotted with windmills, used for pumping water and grinding corn, and this is one of the few surviving grain mills; its sails still turn on the first Saturday of the month – wind permitting. Also a brewery.

  Shops

  Gall & Gall

  Jodenbreestraat 23; tel 020/428 7060.

  Outstanding range of Dutch jenevers (gins) and flavoured spirits. Also has a good stock of imported wines. Part of a popular chain.

  Nijhof & Lee

  Staalstraat 13a; tel 020/620 3980, www.nijhoflee.nl. Closed Sun.

  One of the city’s best art bookshops with a raft of English-language titles. Good for photography too. Mostly new books, but some rare and antique ones as well.

  Puccini Bomboni

  Staalstraat 17; tel 020/626 5474.

  Excellent chocolatier with a fine range of handmade chocolates and attentive service. None of the tweeness of some of its competitors – the decor is briskly modern.

  Restaurants

  Anda Nugraha

  Waterlooplein 369; tel 020/626 6064.

  Lively restaurant serving inexpensive Indonesian food. Well-prepared, moderately spicy dishes using the freshest of ingredients, but the selection is small. There’s a very pleasant terrace in the summer.

  Koffiehuis van de Volksbond

  Kadijksplein 4; tel 020/622 1209.

  Formerly a Communist Party café and apparently the place where the local dockworkers used to receive their wages, this is now an Oosterdok neighbourhood café-restaurant.

  Rosario

  Peperstraat 10; tel 020/627 0280. Closed Sun & Mon.

  Very attractive restaurant slightly out of the way in a relatively unexplored corner of Amsterdam. Good Italian food.

  Bars and cafés

  De Druif

  Rapenburgerplein 83.

  Possibly the city’s oldest bar, and certainly one of its more beguiling, yet hardly anyone knows about it. Its popularity with the locals lends it a village pub feel.

  Entredok

  Entrepotdok 64.

  Perhaps the best of a growing number of bars in this newly renovated area. The clientele hails from the surrounding hi-tech offices, though increasingly from the residential blocks in between, too.

  De Groene Olifant

  Sarphatistraat 126.

  Metres from the Muiderpoort, this is a characterful old wood-panelled brown café, with floor-to-ceiling windows and an excellent, varied menu.

  De Hortus

  Plantage Middenlaan 2a. Daily 11am–3pm.

  Amenable café in the orangery of the botanical gardens – the Hortus Botanicus. Good range of tasty sandwiches and rolls plus the best blueberry cheesecake in the Western world. Inexpensive.

  ’t Ij

  De Gooyer Windmill, Funenkade 7. Wed–Sun 3–8pm.

  The beers (Natte, Zatte and Struis), brewed on the premises, are extremely strong. A good place to drink yourself silly.

  De Nieuwe Vaart

  Oostenburgergracht 187.

  Traditional Dutch café with slots for amateur singers.

  Tisfris

  St Antoniesbreestraat 142.

  Colourful, New Age-ish split-level café-cum-bar near the Rembrandt House. Youthful and popular.

  Clubs and venues

  De Ijsbreker

  Weesperzijde 23; tel 020/693 9093, www.ijsbreker.nl.

  Out of the town centre by the Amstel, with a delightful terrace on the water. Has a large, varied programme of international modern, chamber and experimental music, as well as featuring obscure, avant-garde local performers. Concerts are occasionally held in the Planetarium of the Artis Zoo.

  The Museum Quarter and the Vondelpark

  During the nineteenth century, Amsterdam burst out of its restraining canals, gobbling up the surrounding countryside. These new outlying suburbs were mostly residential, but Amsterdam’s leading museums were packed into a relatively small area around the edge of Museumplein. The largest of the museums was – and remains – the Rijksmuseum, which occupies a huge late nineteenth-century edifice overlooking the Singelgracht. Possessing an exceptional collection of Dutch paintings from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, it is perhaps best known for its series of paintings by Rembrandt. Close by, the much newer Van Gogh Museum boasts the finest assortment of Van Gogh paintings in the world, but the adjacent Stedelijk Museum, which has long occupied a grandneo-Renaissance building dating from 1895, is closed for refurbishment until 2008; in the meantime some of its outstanding permanent collection of modern art is on display in the old postal building near Centraal Station.

  Museumplein

  Extending south from Stadhouderskade to Van Baerlestraat, Museumplein is Amsterdam’s largest open space, its wide lawns and gravelled spaces used for a variety of outdoor activities, from visiting circuses to political demonstrations. There’s a war memorial here too – it’s the group of slim steel blocks about three-quarters of the way down the Museumplein on the left-hand side and it commemorates the women of of the wartime concentration camps, particularly the thousands who died at Ravensbruck. The text reads: "For those women who defied fascism until the bitter end".

  The Rijksmuseum

  Entrance to the Philips Wing is on Jan Luijkenstraat www.rijksmuseum.nl. Daily 9am–6pm. €9.

  The Rijksmuseum is without question the country’s foremost museum, with one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, including twenty or so of Rembrandt’s works, plus a healthy sample of canvases by Steen, Hals, Vermeer and their leading contemporaries. The museum also owns an extravagant collection of paintings from every other pre-twentieth-century period of Dutch art and has a vast hoard of applied art and sculpture. The bad news is that there’s a major renovation going on at the moment and most of the museum is closed. The exception is the Rijksmuseum’s Philips Wing, whose smallish but eclectic "Masterpieces" exhibition, scheduled to last until the rest of the museum is reopened, is devoted to the paintings of Amsterdam’s Golden Age. On display are, for example, several wonderful canvases by Frans Hals, the soft, tonal river scenes of the Haarlem artist Salomon van Ruysdael and the cool church interiors of Pieter Saenredam. There are also portraits by Ferdinand, the carousing peasants of Jan Steen, and the cool interiors of Vermeer, Gerard ter Borch and Pieter de Hooch. However, it’s the Rembrandts that steal the show, Especially The Night Watch of 1642 – perhaps the most famous and probably the most valuable of all the artist’s pictures – plus other key works, like a late Self-Portrait, a touching depiction of his cowled son, Titus, and The Jewish Bride, one of his very last pictures, finished in 1667.

  The Van Gogh Museum

  www.vangoghmuseum.nl. Daily 10am–6pm. €9, children 13–17 years €2.50.

  The Van Gogh Museum, comprising a fabulous collection of the artist’s (1853–1890) work, is one of Amsterdam’s top attractions. The museum occupies two modern buildings, with the kernel of the collection housed in an angular building designed by a leading light of the De Stijl movement, Gerritt Rietveld, and opened to the public in 1973. Well-conceived and beautifully presented, this part of the museum provides an introduction to the man and his art based on paintings that were mostly inherited from Vincent’s art-dealer brother Theo. To the rear of Rietveld’s building, and connected by a ground-floor-l
evel escalator, is the ultramodern annexe, an aesthetically controversial structure completed in 1998. The annexe was financed by a Japanese insurance company – the same conglomerate who paid $35 million for one of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers canvases in 1987 – and provides temporary exhibition space. Most of these exhibitions focus on one aspect or another of Van Gogh’s art and draw heavily on the permanent collection, which means that the paintings displayed in the older building are regularly rotated.

  The ground floor of the main museum displays works by some of Van Gogh’s well-known friends and contemporaries, many of whom influenced his work – Gauguin, Millet, Anton Mauve, Charles Daubigny and others – while the first floor has paintings by the artist himself, displayed chronologically, starting with the dark, sombre works of the early years like The Potato Eaters and finishing up with the asylum years at St Rémy and the final, tortured paintings done at Auvers, where Van Gogh lodged for the last three months of his life. It was at Auvers that he painted the frantic Ears of Wheat and Wheatfield with a Reaper, in which the fields swirl and writhe under weird, light-green, moving skies. It was a few weeks after completing these last paintings that Van Gogh shot and fatally wounded himself.

  The two floors above provide a back-up to the main collection. The second floor has a study area with PC access to a detailed computerized account of Van Gogh’s life and times, plus a number of sketches and a handful of less familiar paintings. The third floor features more drawings and sketches from the permanent collection as well as notebooks and letters. This floor also affords space to relevant temporary exhibitions illustrating Van Gogh’s artistic influences, or his own influence on other artists.