Unusual museums in Amsterdam

Museum Het Schip

Dive into the whacky architectural style of the Amsterdam School movement at Museum Het Schip. This expressionist building (called "the ship" because of its nautical shape) hosts some fascinating permanent exhibitions about this early 20th-century design movement that draws comparisons to Art Deco.

STRAAT

This massive industrial complex in NDSM answers the question of what happens when urban art is removed from the streets and placed in a gallery context. STRAAT Museum in NDSM is entirely devoted to graffiti and street art, featuring a wide range of works by international artists, including large-scale murals.

Museum Tot Zover

If you’re interested in how the Dutch approach the inevitability of death, then the Dutch Funeral Museum is just the ticket. Museum Tot Zover offers an array of changing contemporary and historical exhibitions featuring art and photography, plus a growing selection of online galleries delving deep into our relationship with death. As befitting a funeral museum, it’s located in a cemetery - the only Dutch museum to be – and housed in the former director's residence.

ARTIS-Micropia

They’re as everyday as anything can be, they’re on and in you and you can’t see them. We’re talking microbes and Amsterdam has an entire interactive museum devoted to these fascinating lifeforms. Step into Micropia to learn all about the hundred thousand billion of them sharing your body through engaging exhibitions and educational activities.

Kattenkabinet

You might have heard about people being “barking mad”; well, you certainly won’t find them at the Kattenkabinet (Cat Cabinet). This feline monument was founded in memory of a frisky tomcat, John Pierpont Morgan, who was the museum's founder's long-time companion. The collection is dedicated entirely to the role of cats in art and culture throughout history. Even if you’re not cat crazy, then a stroll through the impressive rooms of this beautiful canal house - also used in the film Ocean’s Twelve - is an unexpected treat.

Van Eesteren Museum

Devoted entirely to architect and urban planner Cornelis van Eesteren, the Van Eesteren Museum in Amsterdam Nieuw-West is a collection of buildings and districts sure to impress architecture enthusiasts. Encompassing pavilions, houses, gardens and entire suburbs it gives insight into van Eesteren’s ambitious plans for the extension of Amsterdam.

Fabrique de Lumières

This digital art centre uses cutting-edge technology to create immersive exhibitions dedicated to some of the most celebrated figures in art history - think Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt, and Salvador Dalí. The exhibitions at Fabrique de Lumières are designed to complement the unique architecture of Westergasfabriek. In addition to the immersive exhibitions that focus on classical and modern artists, an area will be dedicated to showcasing contemporary works.

Embassy of the Free Mind

The Embassy of the Free Mind is a museum library, where the European culture of free thinking imparts its knowledge to all those who walk through its doors. Housed in the grand 17th-century canal house of the ‘House with the Heads' on the Keizersgracht, this is the place to learn about history, science, art and spirituality and how they’re all connected. It’s also a platform for freethinkers to talk about life irrespective of religion, culture or age.

The Mouse Mansion

This one’s hard to classify; it’s a shop, a museum and a studio that all have The Mouse Mansion series of books in common. In fact, it’s here where this family affair creates all the sets for the books featuring squeaky characters Sam and Julia. Their crafty handiwork and magical environments will delight those who love all things small and wonderful, especially furry mice.

Geelvinck Pianola Museum

Located in the Jordaan, the Pianola Museum is home to a collection of pianos that can essentially play themselves with just a little assistance from music recorded on perforated paper rolls. Back in the day, this was hi-tech. Along with the self-playing instruments, you’ll find an array of related paraphernalia, including pianos, pipe organs, gramophones, and phonographs. The library houses some 30,000 music reels and books, and the collection includes gramophone records, phonograph rolls, and LPs. The museum also stages concerts throughout the year.

Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder

Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic) invites you inside a seemingly ordinary canal house concealing a secret church built in the 17th-century attic—at a time when practising Catholicism publicly was prosecuted. Undertake an illuminating journey from the basement to the rafters through this unique historical monument.

ARTIS-Groote Museum

Why do we exist? Where do we come from? What are our bodies made of? And how are humans different from animals? For the most inquisitive of minds (for big and small visitors), Het Groote Museum (the Museum of Big Questions), located at ARTIS, hopes to answer your burning questions about science, natural history and human existence through innovative interactive displays.

Allard Pierson Museum

Encompassing 10,000 years of cultural history, Allard Pierson is the archaeology museum and knowledge institute for the heritage collections of the University of Amsterdam. Taking a tour through the permanent exhibition From Nijl tot Amstel (From Nile to Amstel), you’ll encounter everything from Egyptian mummies, Greek pottery and Roman glass to Medieval bibles, Multatuli's manuscripts and plaster casts of famous classical statues. 

Grachtenmuseum

Situated in a 17th-century canal house, the Grachtenmuseum (Museum of the Canals) is about the impeccable urban planning required to construct this city built on water. Alongside the permanent multimedia tour filled with charming models and stop-animation, the changing exhibitions in the downstairs period rooms offer a refreshing perspective on Amsterdam and its infrastructure.