National Maritime Museum Amsterdam

If you are interested in sailing and shipping, there is a museum for you in Amsterdam. The cream-colored rectangular building opposite NEMO is the National Maritime Museum. There is a three-masted ship right next to it, which can be easily seen from the surrounding areas.

Built in 1656, it was originally used by the Dutch navy to store sails, ropes, guns and ammunition. Since 1973, it has been serving as a museum. The museum, which is mostly aimed at children, exhibits nearly 1800 ship models, the oldest of which is a warship used in 1580, about 350 ship models from the 19th and 20th centuries, engines, machines, technical drawings, racing boats and tools used in sailing.

In the museum, it is possible to see paintings, posters, graphics, ship sketches, flags, photographs and videos on shipping, sea creatures, decorative materials, national and international maps, as well as clothes and weapons used in ship battles, made by famous Dutch painters from the 17th century to the present day. There are also interactive games for children. For example, you can learn what it is like to live on a life-size boat and what people eat and drink.

Likewise, you can enter the cargo ship next to the museum building and see the war materials, the places where people slept, rested and ate. The ship called Amsterdam VOC started its first voyage in 1749. However, it sank after an accident in stormy weather on the English Channel, which separates Britain and France. Discovered in 1969 in a bay in England, the shipwreck is still in the same place. Next to the museum is a replica of that ship.

The museum, called Scheepvaartmuseum in Dutch, is free with the I Amsterdam City Card. The museum is a 15-minute walk from Amsterdam Centraal train station. It is located right after the NEMO Science Museum.