Tuesday, May 16th, 2023 Amsterdam, Netherlands
This morning we walked back through the city in the direction of the Rijksmuseum to visit the Van Gogh Museum which is in a “museum park” area that includes these two museums and a few others. It was a beautiful morning with only a few clouds, not too cold – perfect for walking, Amsterdam is a great walking city. We made a brief stop at the Lego Store to custom print a couple of unique toys for our two grandsons, it’s a great set up once you figure out how it all works – the employees are very helpful, we also did this in Dubai. We also saw a mosaic made from Lego of The Girl with a Pearl Earring - somewhat making up for its absence from the Vermeer exhibition yesterday.
Sandra had visited the Van Gogh Museum on a previous trip to Amsterdam, but as we approached the facility, she was surprised to find it looked completely different; the museum has been dramatically enlarged with a brand-new glass building adjacent to the original museum and connected by a tunnel. The museum houses the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world, and they are very well curated. Entry is through the new wing and down a long escalator; a gigantic print of a self-portrait dominates this spacious atrium. The new wing is mostly used for special exhibitions, on this visit there was a really good display about Van Gogh’s time in the village of Auvers just before his suicide. The original building holds the permanent exhibit, including one large room full of his self-portraits, most of the other famous works are also housed in this building. It’s hard to believe that Van Gogh had virtually no recognition of his work during his lifetime; mental health issues and poverty – his life was so sad.
Our next stop was the Anne Frank House, about a 35-minute walk from the Van Gogh Museum – we decided to try the street cars instead of walking. A quick Google search revealed that we could start the journey from the streetcar stop right outside the Van Gogh Museum. The street cars in Amsterdam are very popular and efficient – though we found the payment method a bit confusing at first; each passenger must swipe their credit card on entry and exit from the streetcar, I think many people just jump on and off without paying.
During World War II, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms, in the rear building, of the 17th-century canal house, later known as the Secret Annex. She did not survive the war, but her wartime diary was published in 1947. Ten years later the Anne Frank Foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block.
Reservations are essential for the Anne Frank House, it’s incredibly popular. We arrived a bit early and joined our designated queue. The museum has changed a bit since our last visit several year ago – it’s been expanded and modernized; it now includes a nice café, a virtual reality experience and unfortunately some of the rooms in the Secret Annex have been changed to allow a higher volume of visitors. Nevertheless a visit to the Anne Frank House is a very humbling and moving experience. Entry to Secret Annex is via the original very steep staircase that was hidden behind a bookcase. A strange thing happens upon entry to the living area where the family hid out; all visitors voluntarily choose to not speak, and this produces a very evocative hushed atmosphere – it’s incredibly emotional. No photographs are allowed inside the Secret Annex and so I’ve included a few pictures I was able to find on the internet.
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