National Maritime Museum

Het Scheepvaartmuseum occupies the 's Lands Zeemagazijn, built in 1656 as the arsenal of the Amsterdam Admiralty - a vast square block round a courtyard, put up in nine months on eighteen thousand piles, holding rope, canvas, guns and stores for the fleet. It became a museum in 1973 and was rebuilt in 2011 with the courtyard roofed in a glass and steel web. The collection is the largest maritime holding in the country: charts and atlases including Blaeu's, ship models, instruments, paintings, and the royal barge of 1818. Moored at the quay is a full-size replica of the Amsterdam, a Dutch East India Company ship that ran aground off Hastings on her maiden voyage in 1749, built here in the 1980s and walkable from hold to deck. The museum does not avoid the Company's record - slavery and colonial violence are addressed in the displays rather than passed over.

What you actually see

• An admiralty arsenal of 1656 - built in nine months on eighteen thousand piles.
• A replica East Indiaman - the Amsterdam, moored outside and walkable throughout.
• The largest Dutch maritime collection - charts, models, instruments and paintings.
• The Company's record addressed - slavery and colonial violence in the displays.

When to go

All year. A day.

Honest expectations

The replica ship closes in high wind and for maintenance. Below decks is low and steep. Very busy in school holidays. The building is large - allow real time.

Nearby

NEMO science centre and the eastern docks are next door.