Netherlands Annual Museum Card 60EUR

I purchased a Museumkaart – Museum Card Annual Pass for 59.90 EUR ($65 USD) while in Amsterdam last week. The Museum Card provides free access to over 400 museums in the Netherlands, including 35 museums in Amsterdam.

The Museumkaart is not advertised for tourists to the Netherlands, but a tourist can buy the annual pass at most museums. I purchased my Museum Card at the Amsterdam Museum.

Over three days I visited five museums in Amsterdam and Leiden and those visits paid for the card. I’ll be in the Netherlands another two weeks or so over the next three months.

I visited the Amsterdam Museum (12.50 EUR)  Royal Palace (10 EUR), Rijksmuseum (17.50 EUR), Van Gogh Museum (17 EUR) and Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (9.50 EUR) in Leiden. These five visits alone would have cost 66.50 EUR.

Other popular museums with free admission to Museum Card annual pass holders are the Anne Frank House, De Nieuwe Kerk – New Church, Hermitage Amsterdam, Jewish Historical Museum, NEMO Science center,  Oude Kerk – The Old Church, Olympic Experience and Scheepvaartmuseum – Maritime Museum.

You can read more about the Museumkaart on the website AmsterdamTips.com for a partial list of museums and museums in Amsterdam where you can buy the Museumkaart. The Museumkaart website is only in Dutch. Here is another English language website with information on the Museum Card. http://www.amsterdam.info/museums/museumkaart/.

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Last year I saw a film on a KLM flight about the 10-year Rijksmuseum remodeling project.

Loyalty Traveler – Amsterdam cyclists fought Rijksmuseum and won (Feb 28, 2015).

One of the story lines in the Rijksmuseum film focused on the museum’s acquisition of 700-year-old Japanese warrior wooden statues. I recognized them immediately in the Asian Art gallery.

Of course it is the Rembrandt and Vermeer paintings that garner the most attention for Rijksmuseum visitors.

Jan Vermeer – The Milkmaid (1660) and Rembrandt – The Night Watch (1642).

Van Gogh Museum

I quickly learned there is no photography allowed in the Van Gogh Museum.

I managed a couple of photos on the ground floor before I was instructed to put my camera away.

Royal Palace Amsterdam

This trip to Amsterdam was the first time I have gone inside the Royal Palace Amsterdam. The building was actually built and opened as the Amsterdam Town Hall in 1655 on Dam Square and remained the Town Hall for over 150 years. The Town Hall was converted into a palace during the reign of Louis Napoleon (1808-1813) when Napoleon’s brother was named King of Holland. After the major defeat of Emperor Napoleon I troops in Leipzig 1813, French troops from across Europe retreated to France to protect the homeland from invasion. Exiled William I returned and became King of the Netherlands and the Town Hall remained a Royal Palace.

Inside the Royal Palace Amsterdam