Amsterdam › Places and landmarks
Rijksmuseum
The Netherlands’ national museum on the Museumplein, where Rembrandt’s Night Watch hangs and a bike path runs through the building.
Photo: Fred Romero, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Rijksmuseum began in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808. Pierre Cuypers’ red-brick building opened in 1885; King William III refused to open it, because it looked too much like a cathedral.
Its Gallery of Honour ends in Rembrandt’s Night Watch and holds Vermeer’s Milkmaid. The museum reopened in 2013 after a ten-year renovation, and a bike path still runs through the passage under the building. It stands south of the part of Amsterdam the game maps, but you can still walk into three of its rooms. Visit it in 3D ›
Famous art here
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More in Amsterdam
DamThe square on the dam built across the Amstel in the 13th century, which gave the city its name.
Royal PalaceBuilt as the city hall of the Golden Age, made a palace by Louis Napoleon in 1808.
Nieuwe KerkThe church on the Dam where Dutch kings and queens are sworn in.
BegijnhofA hidden courtyard of old houses round a garden, behind a door off the Spui.
SpuiA small square of bookshops and cafés, with a book market on Fridays.
Flower marketThe floating flower market on the Singel, selling bulbs and flowers since 1862.
WesterkerkThe church on the Prinsengracht with the tallest tower in Amsterdam, crowned by an imperial crown.
Anne Frank HouseThe canal house where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis and she wrote her diary.
Canal ringThe half-moon of 17th-century canals round the old town, on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
BikesAmsterdam has more bikes than people, and they rule the streets.
TramsThe blue and white trams of the GVB, ringing their way across the Dam and down the Rokin.
Canal boatsThe long glass-roofed boats that take visitors round the canals and under the low bridges.
StroopwafelTwo thin waffles with a layer of warm caramel syrup between them.