Like all cities, Amsterdam could not be without a museum on its own history. This is the Amsterdams Historisch Museum. 

Located on the northern flank of the Begijnhof, a trip around the museum’s corridors and galleries will give you a comprehensive idea of the city’s history since the thirteenth century. The collection’s main items are large collections of paintings, books, maps and important objects. 

Since 1975, the museum has occupied the restored former orphanage building which, although it might initially suggest otherwise, is a charming site. The building was constructed on the former site of the convent of Saint Lucy. The construction dates back to 1578, which explains the city’s decision to establish a municipal orphanage, because of its association with Calvinism.

In addition to the museum, the building still also features the convent’s cloister, which can be entered from the street. After walking around the city, this is a good place to rest and have a nice cup of coffee or enjoy the company of a book. In the museum shop, right where you are now, there are many to choose from. 

The City Hall renovated the building after 1960 and introduced highly innovative changes: where before there had been a small canal, they opened a street-museum that exhibits the portraits of the bourgeois patrons entrusted to defend the city in the seventeenth century. 

The history museum will give you a general overview not only of the city, of how it expanded and, therefore, of much of its architecture, but also of its famous figures and its everyday life. It is therefore an extremely recommendable place to visit.