I was very happy when my daughter, visiting from the US, wanted to spend the day in Amsterdam, sightseeing with me. I gave her a list of museums I’d like to visit for my series on the smaller, less well-known museums in Amsterdam, and told her to choose two. My daughter, a graphic designer, chose…
The Dutch Resistance Museum
“That was pretty interesting” is high praise indeed, when it comes from my 17-year-old son after a visit to a museum. The Verzetsmuseum—Dutch Resistance Museum—in Amsterdam is one of very few that have earned a “pretty interesting” from him. Documenting not just the resistance movement during World War II, but also the whole history of…
Red Light Secrets: Museum of Prostitution
What I expected on visiting Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution was a presentation that titillates and that presents prostitution as a happy profession with practitioners who choose to become prostitutes. Note: I’ve updated this post with some comments from a “part time excort whore” who commented on this post on Twitter. I expected that because…
Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum
It’s not surprising that Amsterdam is home to a museum of Hash, Marijuana and Hemp, given its generally tolerant policy toward soft drugs. You’d think, given the somewhat subversive subject, that it would be entertaining to visit. It wasn’t. The main part of the museum (hash and marijuana) The main part of the museum inhabits…
The Sex Museum Amsterdam: the cure for insomnia
The first thing you see on entering the Sex Museum Amsterdam is a life size statue of Priapus, the Greek god of fertility, and he’s … well, let’s say he’s pretty turned on, and well-endowed. Review of the Sex Museum in Amsterdam The rest of the museum goes downhill from there. Unfortunately, if I want to…
Body Worlds: Museum or Freak Show?
Warning: If you’re squeamish, you might want to click away…but please share this post before you go! Body Worlds: The Happiness Project exhibit in Amsterdam is described on its webpage as telling: the amazing story of our own body and the impact of happiness on our health. More than 200 anatomical specimens of real human bodies…
The Cat Cabinet: another quirky Amsterdam museum
The founder of the Cat Cabinet, Bob Meijer, named his cat John Pierpont Morgan. Why name him after a 19th century American financier? I don’t know. Born in 1966, J.P. Morgan received a special gift from Meijer every five years. On his fifth birthday, it was a portrait by Ansel Sanberg. On his tenth, his present was a…
Electric Ladyland: hippie heaven
Electric Ladyland in Amsterdam is definitely one of the weirdest museums I’ve visited yet. (Okay, the Toilet Museum in Suwon, South Korea, was pretty weird too, but this isn’t a contest. At least not yet … ) The museum claims to be the “first museum of fluorescent art.” It certainly includes a lot of fluorescent paint. Whether…
Is the Erotic Museum in Amsterdam erotic? A review
The short answer to the question in the title is “No, the Erotic Museum Amsterdam is not erotic.” What is it? Thought provoking and sometimes disturbing. Why I didn’t go to the Erotic Museum Amsterdam before You may remember that I reviewed the Sex Museum some time ago, calling it “the cure for insomnia.” I…