museums

Maybe too often, when people think of Amsterdam, the first (and sometimes, sadly only) things that come to mind characterizing this amazing city are marijuana and prostitution. But, there is so much more to Amsterdam than the overly touristy Red Light District would have you believe.

For example, Amsterdam, and the whole Netherlands in general, seem to really love their museums! I've never seen so many different museums: big and small, famous and practically unheard of (even by people who live here), exotic, grand, and everyday... And this past weekend - national museum weekend - was the perfect time to check some of them out (for free)!

I've already been to a handful of different museums in Amsterdam and elsewhere.

In Amsterdam:

• the Van Gogh Museum
• the Rijksmuseum
• the Houseboat Museum
• the comically horrid Sex Museum
• the secret Catholic church Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder
• Anne Frank House, twice
• and in both the Oud Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk.

I've also been to the wonderful Gemeente Museum in Den Haag, as well as Escher in het Paleis.

This weekend, what with all the great discounts and all, I went to three more:

• the neighbourhood museum in Amsterdam Noord aptly known as Museum de Noord (Museum the North),
• the city museum Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Amsterdam Historical Museum),
• and the famous former Colonial Museum today known as the Tropenmuseum (Tropics Museum).

I am trying to look at these three museums with eyes a little more critical than those of your average museum visitor. To me, these museums are interesting because of how they tell the stories of what it means to belong, to be Dutch, and to relate to the past and present, to each other inside and across these particular settings. The little Museum de Noord, just one year old, is actually housed in the former bath house for a neighbourhood in Amsterdam Noord. It's a tiny museum compared to most I've seen, but is still rich with the history of the area (through maps, pictures, and a very knowledgeable caretaker) and everyday lived experiences (as through the art of Liesbeth Verhoeven, whose work was on display when I visited on Friday). The Amsterdams Historisch Museum is much larger, and tells the story of the growth of Amsterdam as a city, its place in the Netherlands (especially during the Golden Age), and through the special exhibit on now, Hoerengracht (Whore's canal), takes a critical, artistic look at the Red Light District that for many visitors, characterizes (symbolizes?) Amsterdam. The Tropenmuseum looks outward to the Dutch connections (past, present and future) with the wider world, namely, places in the tropics - particularly, places where the Netherlands had colonial interests. It was really interesting to see how a museum that is clearly popular with children (lots of rugrats running around, and presentations and activities specifically to entertain and teach the little ones) covered historical topics just as clearly part of a past that Dutch people seem to be both proud (e.g. past glories and scientific advancements) and ashamed of (e.g. slavery).

After my fancy new museumkaart (discount card for Dutch museums) arrives in the mail, hopefully this week, I think I need to visit all of these museums again - in the research-minded sense, and because they're just so (unexpectedly) large that I didn't get to see everything! I'm also planning to check out:

• the Amsterdam city archives' exhibits (Stadsarchief); in particular, the earliest photos of Amsterdam, and their Giro d'Italia photos.
• the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum (Dutch Maritime Museum)
• the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum) in Arnhem - really excited for this one!

So, as Ms. Long would probably say, "Red Light, schmred Light. Bring on the museums!"