Amsterdam Museum

Amsterdam Museum entrance Kalverstraat

Inner courtyard and entrance area

The Amsterdam Museum (until 2011 the Amsterdam Historical Museum ) is a museum about the city history of Amsterdam in the Netherlands . It is located in the old town of Amsterdam at Kalverstraat 92 between Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and Rokin near the Begijnhof . In addition to the permanent exhibition on the city's history from the Middle Ages to the present, there are changing exhibitions on various cultural topics.

history

As early as the 17th century, the Golden Age of the Netherlands, people began collecting paintings, prints and archaeological artefacts on the city's history in the town hall and exhibiting them in the Kunstkammer . The collection was expanded through purchases or donations. In 1806 a curiosity chamber was set up for these objects on the fourth floor of the town hall .

With the arrival of Louis Bonaparte in Amsterdam in 1808, the City Hall was rededicated as the Royal Palace and the art collection was declared the Royal Museum. In 1817 the Royal Museum was established as the Rijksmuseum in the Trippenhuis on Kloveniersburgwal. The city history collection was housed in the new town hall in the Prinsenhof.

For the constantly growing art collection, the current building of the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum were completed in 1895 on Museumplein in the Oud-Zuid district . In 1906 the Stedelijk Museum opened a permanent exhibition of objects related to the city's history. Soon the idea arose to set up a separate museum for the historical collection and to dedicate the Stedelijk Museum primarily to modern art.

After a lengthy dispute, the Amsterdam Historical Museum was inaugurated on November 2, 1926 on the occasion of the 650th anniversary of the founding of the city of Amsterdam in the historic building of the Stadtwaage on the Nieuwmarkt . The museum was no longer under the management of the Stedelijk Museum, but had its own advisory committee.

As early as the 1930s there were plans to accommodate the museum in the building complex of the orphanage on Kalverstraat. It was not until 1962 that the now vacant rooms were bought. After extensive renovation work, the completely restored facility was opened to the public on October 27, 1975.

In 2011 extensive modernization work took place, so that the museum was partially closed. When it reopened, the facility was renamed to its current name.

building

The monastery of St. Luke has been located on the site of the museum since the Middle Ages. In 1578 the monastery was secularized by the Calvinists . In 1580 an orphanage was set up in the complex. There were extensions by Hendrick de Keyser and his son Pieter de Keyser . The building complex got its current appearance in 1634 through redesigns by Jacob van Campen . The orphanage operated until 1960.

A moat was used to strictly separate the living areas for boys and girls, which was filled in during the renovation work after the orphanage was closed. The alley that was created was roofed over and expanded into the Schuttersgalerij , a gallery for large-format paintings by the Amsterdam rifle guilds.

collection

The collection includes around 80,000 objects: paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, books, furniture, textiles, glass, ceramics, coins, handicrafts and everyday objects. The museum also maintains a large part of the archaeological artifacts that have been found during excavations. The basic data of the entire collection are digitally recorded in a collection database that was made available to the public in 2010 via the museum's website. This includes the 85% of the collection that is not on display in the museum.