museum amstelkring

By -
on the day of the ascention, i went to the museum amstelkring, also known as "our lord in the attic" church.  the church is over 400 years older.  unfortunately, the red light district has encroached on the little church.  it is about half a block away, which is slightly ironic!  the church is undergoing renovations.

this museum had no signage, just an audio guide to follow along.  it uses a pretty effective method.  the museum employee set it up to the proper language, point to a special sign in each room, and then listen.  it was also included in the ticket price. 

it was in this audio that it was emphasized how "lucky" we were to see the church under renovation.   it was a little annoying.  i do not think so.  they kept mentioning that we could see it in the "original state."  i am not really sure what they meant by this.  this was not like "the original state" when it was under construction.  i am also getting a little cranky about museums still charging full fair when things are under construction.  when you pay the entrance ticket, it is to get the full experience of how it was at its peak.  this museum was missing all of the paintings, organ, and pure decorations.  it was pretty bare bone.   part of the reason you come is to see all of that stuff.
inside of the church - three attics connected

outside of the church
i liked the architectural enhancements and the descriptions were fantastic.  i did learn a lot form the audio guide.  they explained how the owner connected the attic of three houses to create this church.  it was pretty fantastic.
 
time spent in house: 45 minutes
times visited: 1
overall: B+
Location: Museum Amstelkring, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40, 1012 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

detroit institute of arts

By -
i went to the detroit institute of arts museum to see the rembrandt and the face of jesus exhibit.  it was really great. we bought tickets online the night before to reserve our viewing time.  our biggest gripe about the entire experience was the $3.50 "convenience fee" that was tacked onto each ticket purchased.  the ticket price was $16, so this "convenience fee" was almost 22% of the ticket price.  at this point, purchasing tickets online is cheaper for the museum since they do not have to employee someone to speak to me and they don't even have to print the ticket!  if they are really counting on this fee, just roll it into my admission price please; it would make me a little less grumpy while still getting the same amount of money out of me! we arrived a little early to the exhibit, which ended up being a good move since they had completely sold the exhibit out for the day.  they let people into the exhibit in batches, so it was fine that we got...
Read more

neue gallery

By -
i went to the neue gallery with my college sister. i had wanted to go for a while. the first time i wanted to go, there was a line out the door and i ended up going to the whitney instead. i found out later it was one of the first weekends for a new exhibit. well, this time we went, unbeknownst to us, but a new exhibit on klimt was opening the weekend we were there as well. we were able to get in no problems, but as we were leaving we noticed that a line (again) out the door had developed. the museum itself is quite small, which i think causes this out the door problem. we really enjoyed the museum. it was just about the right size and pretty easy to navigate. they limit the number of people in it because it just would get to hard to move. the klimt exhibit itself was quite nice. my sister knew a lot more about klimt than i did. i recognized some of the paintings, but my sister knew much more about his background. the museum did a nice job putting the exhibit together...
Read more

metropolitan museum of art

By -
i went to the metropolitan museum of art today to see the art of the samurai: japanese arms and armor, 1156-1868 . this exhibit was in the typical special exhibit location....second floor to the left passing through the marble statues. the exhibit was fantastic. as described in the introduction to the exhibit, it is the most comprehensive exhibit ever devoted to samurai art. most of the art were designated as "national treasure" and "important cultural property." i found quite a few of the items on the wikipedia page for japanese national treasures . the exhibit had a number of swords, sword mountings and armor. a number of the items (~60) will be switched out in the next week with new items. most of the items cannot handle light for such long periods. some of the armor was fantastic, in particular one. this particular armor was replicated 100 years later for a child in the same family. this helmet was absolutely fantastic. i cannot believe that i spent ...
Read more