Museumhaven

Museumhaven is an open-air harbour museum on the water in central Amsterdam, between NEMO Science Museum and the National Maritime Museum. Along the quay, restored Dutch commercial vessels create a floating view of the city’s maritime past.

Dektjalks with flat bottoms once suited the region’s shallow waters, while stevenaaks carried heavy cargoes with their pointed bows. Dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these ships show Dutch shipbuilding, trade and everyday working life. Dutch and English information plaques explain each vessel’s construction, history and former use. Old shipyard equipment adds tools and machinery once used to build and maintain such vessels. The Vereniging Museumhaven preserves the fleet through mooring, restoration and maintenance, continuing work begun over forty years ago.

The ships are private residences, so you can examine their exteriors but cannot go aboard. Names such as Anna Sophia, Stad Gent, De Kaper and Watergeus keep individual stories visible beside Amsterdam’s busy waterways.