Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hollandsche Schouwburg
During the Nazi occupation,
this former theatre was used as
an assembly-point for thousands
of Jews. Behind an intact façade,
a garden has been created around
a basalt monument on the site of
the auditorium. The names of
6,700 Dutch Jews are engraved
in a memorial hall to the 104,000
who were exterminated. There is
an exhibition upstairs.
d
Plantage
Middenlaan 24
•
Map F4
•
020 626
9945
•
www.hollandscheschouwburg.nl
•
Open 11am-4pm daily
•
Closed Yom
Kippur
•
Free
A Day in the Plantage
Morning
Start your day among the
cannons, models, figure-
heads, maps and instru-
ments of the
Nederlands
Scheepvaart Museum
(see p123)
, then revive
yourself at the pleasant
ground-floor café. If you
secretly hanker after a ship-
in-a-bottle, a cutlass paper
knife or other objects with
a nautical theme, visit the
museum shop before you
leave. Outside, take a look
around the Amsterdam, the
full-size replica of an 18th-
century East Indiaman,
manned by actors.
Koninklijk Theater Carré
It is hard to believe that the
magnificent Carré Theatre,
superbly set beside the Amstel,
was built at break-neck speed in
1887 to house Oscar Carré's
circus. A copy of his other circus
in Cologne, it has a fine Neo-
Renaissance frontage, some
splendid ironwork, and is
decorated appropriately with the
heads of clowns and dancers.
Today, it hosts pop concerts,
dance shows, lavish musicals,
and even the occasional circus.
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Amstel 115-25
•
Map F5
•
0900 252
5255
•
www.theatercarre.nl
•
Box office
open 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 1pm-7pm
Sun
•
Guided tours 3pm Wed & Sat
If it is a Tuesday and you
haven't yet had your fill of
boats, take a short detour
to the
Werf 't Kromhout
Museum
(see p123)
to
see some shipbuilding in
progress or, at the very
least, the exhibition about
it. Lunch at one of the cafés
in
Entrepotdok
- such as
Café 't Kromhout at No. 36.
Afternoon
After lunch, you could
make your way to
Plantage Kerklaan and the
Verzetsmuseum
(see
facing page)
. A visit here
is definitely worthwhile, if
harrowing. Afterwards,
blow the cobwebs away
by spending an hour or
two at
Artis
(see p123)
.
For a few euros, the
excellent zoo plan gives
you feeding times, as well
as pinpointing the two
museums and the
revamped Aquarium. Head
back towards the main
entrance, where there is a
café, and a shop selling
goods with a wildlife
theme. If there is time,
you could finish your
explorations with a quick
dash around the solar
system at the Planetarium.
Amstelhof
When this sober
hofje
was
completed in 1683, it was the
widest building in Amsterdam. It
was part of the final phase of
work on the Grachtengordel
(see
p11)
, when the three canals were
extended beyond the Amstel and
given the prefix “Nieuwe . The
building now houses the
Hermitage Amsterdam, a satellite
of the Hermitage, St Petersburg
(first phase was opened in Feb-
ruary 2004: www.hermitage.nl).
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Amstel 51
•
Map E4
125
