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Frommer's Guide
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star Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum (Netherlands Maritime Museum)
What a bonanza for anyone who loves the sea and ships! The Netherlands Maritime Museum, overlooking the busy Amsterdam harbor, is now appropriately housed in a former arsenal of the Amsterdam Admiralty; which dates from 1656. Here you'll see room after room of ships and ship models, seascapes, navigational instruments, prints, paintings, and old maps, including a 15th-century Ptolemaic atlas and a sumptuously bound edition of the Great Atlas, or Description of the World, produced over a lifetime by Jan Blaeu, who was the stay-at-home master cartographer of Holland's Golden Age. All the exhibits chronicle Holland's abiding ties to the sea through commerce, fishing, yachting, exploration, and war. Among the important papers on display are several pertaining to the Dutch colonies of Nieuwe Amsterdam (New York City) and Nieuwe Nederland (New York State), including a receipt for the land that now surrounds the New York State capital at Albany.

A full-size replica of the Dutch East Indiaman ship Amsterdam, which foundered off Hastings in 1749 on her maiden voyage to the fabled Spice Islands (Indonesia), is moored at the museum's wharf, as is a replica completed in 1998 of the Stad Amsterdam, a three-masted iron clipper from 1854 (it may eventually be moved to Java Island in the harbor). Other ships that can be seen are a steam icebreaker, a motor lifeboat, and a herring lugger; also, the historic Royal Barge and two towing barges are housed indoors.

Treat your kids to an age-old youthful fantasy in Treasure Island, an exhibit that runs at the museum through January 5, 2003. It aims to answer questions like what pirates really were like and how ships were navigated in former times. The children will be aided by an old sea dog from the 17th century, Willem van der Zaan, who has fallen on hard times. The exhibition is suitable for children age from around 10 and up.

You can reach the museum by taking a 20-minute walk along the historical waterfront, the Nautisch Kwartier.

Kattenburgerplein 1 (in the Eastern Dock). Phone: 020/523-2222 . Open: Tues-Sat 10am-5pm (also Mon mid-June to mid-Sept), Sun noon-5pm. Admission Dfl 12.50 adults, Dfl 8 children 17 and under. Bus: 22 or 32 to Kattenburgerplein.

Attractions and Activities:
Allard-Pierson Museum Museum Amstelkring (Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder: Our Lord in the Attic)
Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Amsterdam Historical Museum) Museum Het Rembrandthuis
Bijbels Museum (Bible Museum) Museum Willet-Holthuysen
Bureau Amsterdam Museum van Loon
CoBrA Museum of Modern Art Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum (Netherlands Maritime Museum)
De Appel Theatermuseum
Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum) Tropenmuseum (Tropical Museum)
Madame Tussaud's Scenerama Woonboot Museum (Houseboat Museum)
denotes a Frommer's Favorite


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