One of Amsterdam’s highlights, which both documents and celebrates Holland’s seafaring history, is the Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime Museum), beside the water at Kattenburgerplein. Even the most ardent of landlubbers will consider an hour or two here well spent. This rich collection occupies the old Zeemagazijn, the Amsterdam Admiralty arsenal, built in 1656. From this building, sails, ropes, cannons, cutlasses, food and fresh water were supplied to the newly build ships launched at the adjacent yard, and to the fleet moored in the port.

In the 20th century the Dutch navy moved its bases to harbours with direct access to the North Sea and the Zeemagazijn lost its original function. The building was renovated in the 1970s and a first-class museum was born. There’s a pronounced emphasis on the 17th century, when the country was one of the world’s great sea powers. The models and paintings are of the same period as the ships and events they represent.

The museum charts a detailed course through Amsterdam’s and Holland’s maritime achievements, starting with the V-shaped timber of a small medieval vessel found in the reclaimed land of the former Zuiderzee and finishing with glimpses into the lives of passengers cruising to South America, the United States, Asia and Australia on the luxurious liners of the early and mid-20th century.

Between these two points, the collection provides colourful insights into the development of the 16th-century three-masted sailing ships that opened the way to the uncharted oceans; Holland’s many naval wars; and how, in the 17th century, Amsterdam was the world centre of marine cartography, producing the first sea-atlas.

One of the highlights – particularly for children – is a full-size replica of a 17th-century Dutch East Indiaman, the Amsterdam, which ran aground off Hastings in England on her maiden voyage. The ship has a “crew” of actors dressed in period naval costume and is moored at the museum’s landing-stage. It presents a fantastic sight, a squat yet elegant mountain of timber surmounted by three tall masts and threaded with a tracery of rigging. When a breeze roils the water, or the wake from a passing boat rolls by, the recreated Amsterdam sways gently at her moorings. Below decks, in the crew quarters and cargo hold, the ship’s timbers creak and groan alarmingly, creating an evocative impression of conditions on such a craft of water.

East of the museum is an archipelago of man-made islands projecting into the IJ, and dating from the 17th century. Originally the three Eastern Islands – Kattenburg, Wittenburg and Oostenburg – were created to help Holland in its battle for maritime trading and naval supremacy against Great Britain, which started around 1650.

Providing building space for warships and ocean-going merchant vessel, these islands were lined with harbours and bisected with wide canals. The united East India Company’s Oostenburg shipyard was perhaps the world’s largest industrial complex at the time. Consecrated in 1670, the Oosterkerk (Eastern Church) stands near the old island harbour.

Renovation

On 8 January 2007, the Netherlands Maritime Museum Amsterdam closed its doors for a major renovation that will take more than two years. Upon completion, the refurbished Maritime Museum will be ready for the future.

In the years after the Museum first opened, the annual number of visitors was around 40,000. At present, 200,000 people visit each year. The layout and interior will have to change to cope with this increase. Moreover, the Museum reckons the number of visitors might double in the coming years. What museum visitors want has also changed. They wish to make shorter visits and be able to have a choice in what they want to see.

The building itself was also in need of renovation. The Maritime Museum is the last national museum without climate control. High time, therefore, to install such a system. ‘The market has changed radically’, explains museum director Willem Bijleveld, ‘and different audience groups require different modes of presentation. Particularly with young people, creating a vivid experience is the key to success. If we don’t change now, visitor numbers will undoubtedly go down again in the coming years’.