Amsterdam has around seventy five museums in the city. I dedicated one full day to visit the famous museums in Amsterdam and here are the top three museums one should never missed: Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House.
Getting to Van Gogh Museum:
The nearest stops are Van Baerlestraat (tram 2, 5 or 12) or Museumplein (tram: 3, 5 or 12, bus: 347 or 357).
From Amsterdam Central Station, take tram No.2 or 12 to Van Baerlestraat stop.
Official website: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en
The famous paintings of Van Gogh in the museum are displayed on the exterior wall. From left to right: Almond Blossom, Self Portrait, The Yellow House, The Bedroom, Sunflowers, Wheatfield under Thunderclouds.
Van Gogh Museum as seen from Museumplein (Museum Square). Since I arrived at the museum early and it wasn't opened yet, I walked around Museumplein.
The Modern Art Museum is just next to Van Gogh Museum.
The sculpture "Self Portrait of a Dreamer" by Joseph Klibansky is exhibited within the pond from 26 June 2018 to 28 Aug 2018. It was still being exhibited during my visit.
The main "I amsterdam" sign was also located here in front of the Rijksmuseum, until 4 December, 2018. It was removed by the City Council.
Rijksmuseum is another important museum in Amsterdam. I'll be writing another post about it.
Coming back to Van Gogh Museum. During summer (June - Aug), the museum is open from 9 am to 7 pm and 9am to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. For more infor, visit the website: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/plan-your-visit/opening-hours
I bought the ticket online with preferred time and date. Tickets is EUR 19, free entrance for visitor under age 18. Museumkaart holders also have free entrance. The queue wasn't too long and I'm able to get in for the first time slot of the day. Tickets are available four months in advance.
The museum shop.
Van Gogh's self portrait.
"The Bedroom" by Van Gogh.
No photos are allowed inside the museum. There are a total of 4 floors. Each floor has a different theme. I would suggest to go right up to the top floor and work your way down as most people would start from the lower floor. That is if you visit the museum first thing in the morning. After that, it wouldn't matter which floor you start as the crowd are everywhere.
Most of Van Gogh's most well known paintings are located on the top floor of the museum (1889 - 1890) during the last year of his life. On 27 July 1890, aged 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a gun. He died 30 hours after the incident.
There's a machine which will take photo of you with Van Gogh's self portrait poster and send it to your email address on first floor, if I remember correctly. That is the only place you're allowed to take photo.
Back to the entrance hall. You can touch the "Sunflowers" here. It is one of Van Gogh's most famous and iconic painting.
You can buy Van Gogh's paintings made into post cards or even a painting printed on selected sizes to bring home.
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for modern art. It is also located at the Museumplein.
After visiting Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum, I headed to the last museum of the day - Anne Frank House.
Statue of Anne Frank near the Anne Frank House. Who is Anne Frank? She is a Jewish girl who hid in the annex of the building with her family for two years before being discovered and deported to concentration camps. Only her father, Otto Frank survived the war. Anne Frank wrote a diary, in which she documented her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's best known books and has been translated into over 60 languages.
Getting to Anne Frank House: Streetcar 13, 14, or 17 to the Westermarkt stop. The Anne Frank House is often sold out and tickets are only available online (2 months in advance). It is highly recommended to book your ticket well in advance. Adult ticket is 10.5 euros.
https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/tickets/
People still need to queue for their designated time slot entry. The opening hours:
1 April - 1 November: daily from 09:00 to 22:00
30 May - 1 September: daily from 8:30 to 22:00
1 November - 1 April: daily from 09:00 to 19:00, Saturdays from 09:00 to 22:00
This is the only photo I managed to snap inside the museum. No photos allowed once inside. The annex building which Anne Frank was hiding is now made into a museum. The doorway to the annex was concealed behind a moveable bookcase. Visitors will be able to walk through the living quarters of the Anne Frank family and Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer who hid there with them. The office personnel who knew of the hiding place and helped the eight people by supplying them with food and news of the outside world.
It is heartbreaking how the war tore so many families apart.
With this, my museum tour ended for the day.
Van Gogh Museum
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en
Anne Frank House
https://www.annefrank.org/en/
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