Maritime Museum

Inside the Netherlands Maritime Museum, you'll find fascinating artifacts and information on four centuries of Dutch naval history. The interior of the museum is immense; consisting of 25 rooms full of things like maps, paintings, navigational instruments, weaponry, and ship replicas.

There's an extensive exhibit on the Dutch East India Company, touting the important role it played in early international trade. Visitors can climb aboard a replica of the merchant ship Amsterdam, which sank off the coast of Hastings, England in 1749 on its first trip to the Spice Islands, now known as Indonesia. During the warm summer months, actors recreate life aboard the ship. You can join in a sea chantey or two, watch sail makers perform their duties, and even taste a shipboard-prepared meal.

Environmental organization Greenpeace also docks one of their ships at the Scheepvaartmuseum. Guests can climb aboard the Rainbow Warrior and learn about Greenpeace’s dedication to the protection of the waters of the world.

Some of the most valuable and interesting parts of the permanent collection are the old maps, atlases, and charts that date back as far as the 15th century, many penned by Holland's master cartographers.

Of particular interest to Americans may be the artifacts that pertain to the purchase of the Dutch colony in the New World, known at that time as New Amsterdam. There's even a receipt for the land which is now Albany, New York.

The museum also boast a large number of maritime paintings, the largest depicting the 1607 Battle of Gibraltar, where the Dutch defeated the Spaniards. There are also many scale ship models and even real ships in the museum.

The most impressive of those is one of the museum's top attractions: the 'golden' royal barge, a gilded barge built in 1818 for King Willem I. The 17m (56ft) long barge was last used in 1962 for the 25th Wedding Anniversary of Queen Juliana.

After a four year long renovation the museum reopened to the public on October 1, 2011. Highlight of the museum's modernization is the spectacular glass-vaulted courtyard, known as 'Het Open Pleyn'. The museum also revamped its permanent exhibition.