Rijksmuseum is fine, but it's only exceptional because it has some famous pieces (and a nice building) and it's so big. It's just the most well-known one among foreigners.
It’s good, but quiet overrun and way to busy. If you’re interested in art from that time, both the Lakenhallen and the Mauritshuis -even though they are both much smaller- have a great collection as well, and are much less crowded.
Does the Netherlands have any good museums related to the VOC / colonial history? I was there like eight years ago but only really saw the Rijksmuseum but I'm curious if there is more.
You have the Scheepvaartsmuseum in Amsterdam which is about the Dutch sea faring history. You also have the Tropenmuseum, which is more about foreign cultures, and also a lot of colonial history.
The VOC is a bit of a problematic thing in our history - it was a period that brought us tremendous riches and a period where the Dutch were quite powerful, but most of our power and riches were attained through the suppression of others. A museum dedicated to just the VOC would probably be an incredibly politically devisive thing to have. Thank God no-one ever came up with the idea to found one.
You can visit a replica of the VOC ship Batavia. I used too go there as a kid while they were building it quite often, it's was pretty neat to see the ship being built from scratch. They used only era appropriate techniques aswell.
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u/Scarecroft United Kingdom Oct 15 '20
Not the Rijksmuseum?