Het Scheepvaartmuseum

Het Scheepvaartmuseum, also known as the National Maritime Museum, showcases one of the world’s largest maritime collections, including paintings, ship models, and navigational instruments. Visitors can board the replica of the VOC ship Amsterdam to experience life at sea during the Dutch Golden Age. The museum offers interactive exhibitions suitable for all ages, making it an ideal destination for families and history enthusiasts alike.

Planning your visit

Het Scheepvaartmuseum occupies the seventeenth-century naval storehouse of the Amsterdam Admiralty, a severe stone quadrangle on the eastern docks whose courtyard is now roofed in a glass canopy patterned after the lines of an old sea chart. The collection is among the largest maritime holdings in the world: paintings, ship models, navigational instruments, globes and one of the finest cartographic collections anywhere, including atlases from the age when Dutch mapmakers supplied Europe.

The centrepiece sits outside at the quay — a full-scale replica of the Amsterdam, a Dutch East India Company vessel that ran aground on her maiden voyage in 1749. Visitors board her and go below decks through the cramped sleeping quarters, the galley and the cargo holds, which conveys the conditions of an eighteenth-century voyage far more effectively than any display case.

The museum handles the VOC's history including slavery and colonial violence rather than presenting the Golden Age uncritically, which has not always been true of Dutch maritime institutions.

It works well with children, with dedicated interactive exhibitions alongside the historical material. Bookable options include fast-line tickets that skip the entrance queue, combined tickets pairing the museum with a canal cruise — a logical pairing given the subject — and guided tours. Current availability is listed below.