Jewish Cultural Quarter Self-Guided Tour

Visit: Joods Historisch Museum, Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1, 1011 PL Amsterdam The Netherlands

Any trip to Amsterdam should include a visit to the Jewish Historical Museum. This museum, housed in four monumental synagogues, offers a unique look at Jewish life in the Netherlands past and present in all its complexity. The museum has a large multimedia collection ranging from paintings to films and from everyday objects to 3D presentations and always offers one or two temporary exhibitions.

Duration: 45 minutes

Visit: Portuguese Synagogue, Mr. Visserplein 3, 1011 RD Amsterdam The Netherlands

In the centre of the Jewish Cultural Quarter stands the magnificent Portuguese Synagogue. The building is still used as a house of worship, but it is also open to the public, and concerts are held there regularly. The 17th-century interior is still fully intact and illuminated by hundreds of candles. The other buildings in the complex include treasure chambers where visitors can admire a unique collection of ceremonial objects made of silver, gold, silk and brocade.

Duration: 30 minutes

Visit: Hollandsche Schouwburg, Plantage Middenlaan 24, 1018 DE Amsterdam The Netherlands

During the Second World War, the occupying forces made Jews assemble in this former theatre. Tens of thousands of people were held here, not knowing what fate awaited them, until they were deported to concentration and extermination camps. The Hollandsche Schouwburg is now a memorial site with a wall of names commemorating the Jewish victims. It also holds an exhibition about the Holocaust in the Netherlands.

Duration: 30 minutes

Visit: JHM Children's Museum, Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1, 1011 PL Amsterdam The Netherlands

Inside the Jewish Historical Museum is another museum, just for children! It is set up as a Jewish family home with six rooms, where children aged 6 to 12 can play games that will teach them about Jewish culture – sometimes seriously and sometimes with humour. Children can bake rolls in the kosher kitchen, learn Hebrew in the study or make music together in the music room.

Duration: 45 minutes

Visit: National Holocaust Museum in development, Plantage Middenlaan 27, 1018 DB Amsterdam The Netherlands

Through this former teacher training school hundreds of Jewish children, who were held captive in the crèche next door, were smuggled to relatively safe places with the help of the resistance during the Second World War. At this historic site, in the National Holocaust Museum, the story of the Holocaust is told in changing exhibitions and events in an artistic form and based on personal accounts.

Duration: 45 minutes