The only museum the hotel didn't recommend was the only one I was really excited about - the Willet-Holthuysen, a historical canal house preserved and beautifully decorated. The audio tour was incredibly informative and I could bore you with pages and pages of details. I'll try to keep it brief!
In the 17th century the wealthy in Amsterdam lived in canal houses. Most were 6m across but quite deep plots of land with big gardens in the back. The wealthiest had 10 or 12m wide houses. The biggest could have as many as 40 rooms! The family lived mostly on the first and second floors (although first floors here are all called floor 0, even in my hotel) and the servants had the basement and the top floor.
The houses were beautifully decorated with marble, rugs, and lots of art. When the couple (Willet-Holthuysen) died they left the house to the city to be turned into a museum.
I really would have liked to live in one of these houses!
No comments:
Post a Comment