Voor de klas: over de Amsterdamse geschiedenis

Hello class !

I’ve listed a number of films on the history of Amsterdam here.

The first one shows the growth of Amsterdam.

The second the development of the canal belt; a sensational animation !

And the third one is about the city giro in Amsterdam, a film from 1936, outlining the inner workings of the city giro.

Digital map (in Dutch only)

If you click on the picture, you will end up at my site: Financial History of Amsterdam (in Dutch) which lists some of the places of the history of Amsterdam.

Financieel Erfgoed op de kaart

 

Digital audio tour (in Dutch only)

For kids from 16-18 we’ve made an audio-tour (in Dutch) which takes the class from the visitors centre DNB to the Exchange square in the centre. Along the way we stop at places related to the financial history of Amsterdam. The tour can be viewed on the PC or with an app on the smartphone (when using it as an actual audio-tour). Click the picture below to go to the tour.

And more… (also in Dutch…)

There is of course a lot more to enjoy and you can use this list of sites and venues to visit in Amsterdam.

  • a website by Theo Bakker, (in Dutch) with a lot of explanation about the history of Amsterdam,
  • the Amsterdam Museum site; the museum has a lot of videos and is located in the former Amsterdam orphanage,
  • the city archive Amsterdam: this is a special place which holds all the old books and papers of the city of Amsterdam; it is housed in an old bank building and you can just pop in to see the vaul in the cellar. But you may also join the guided tours so that you may discover where the bullet holes of WW2 can be found,
  • the site of the Royal Palace, which was of course the former city hall of Amsterdam; a great venue to indulge in royal interiors, marble surroundings and fun to visit wearing a princess dress or a knights’ outfit,
  • the Shipping museum site; is the location where you can walk on a remake of an old East India Company vessel. If you are there, try finding the smallest room near the captains’ quarters!
  • the Rijks museum: this is a museum that was set up because an old banker once wanted to donate his paintings to the city, but only on the condition that the city would create a beautiful museum to house the painting. This became the Rijks museum where you can of course also see the Nightwatch by Rembrandt (but o so much more),
  • the Rembrandthuis; a beautiful old house where you can see how Remrbandt lived and worked; of course there are many drawings and paintings there as well, but you can really imagine that Rembrandt just left the building some minutes ago,
  • the Jewish museum, is close to the Rembrandthuis; it is housed in and near the old synogogue and also has a special kids museum,
  • the Hermitage site, which feels as a sort of palace on the canal, with often times many nice exhibits and paintings of Dutch masters,
  • the Berlage exchange, a great building by the famous architect Berlage. Sometimes it opens the tower so that you can enjoy the view from above. Great fun to do and very cute small historic pictures are on display during the walk up the stairs,
  • the canal museum; een museum on the history of the canals with also a nice maquette of the city (last time I was there). All the lights do sometimes make it warm inside, but it’s a good exhibition, housed in the building where banker Jan Willink signed the first loan to the very young United States of America (John Adams),
  • the bijbels museum; is a very nice building with a lot of authentic detail and interior. In the basement is the old kitchen where you can enjoy the tranquility and old atmosphere. There you can have a snack and a drink as well of course……
  • the van loon museum; this is also a very nicely decorated typical canal house, with beautiful rooms, garden and a garden house (which used to be the stables and garage for the carriage). Also very suitable to go to in royal attire as the old Mrs van Loon used to be the lady-in-waiting for the Dutch Queen,
  • the Pierson museum; this used to be the spot of the central bank, money and gold/silver was stored here until the late 1960s. Now it houses the museum of archeology and history and it has a very nice ‘collectors’ room, which used to be the secretary room of the central bank.

Enjoy and perhaps we meet each other in Amsterdam !

Simon