Willet-Holthuysen Museum — Attraction in Amsterdam

Situated in a grandiose 17th century double canal house, Willet-Holthuysen Museum reflects the splendour in which its wealthy occupants resided. The house was originally constructed around 1685 for Jacob Hop, the-then mayor of Amsterdam. In 1739, the exterior was lavishly redesigned and has remained the same ever since.

In 1855, the house was purchased by Pieter Gerard Holthuysen, a very wealthy merchant who had amassed his fortune from plate glass and English coal. His wife died the following year and he passed away two years later, bequeathing his worldly possessions to his daughter Louisa, an only child. In 1861, Louisa married Abraham Willet, a bon viveur, whose exorbitant life style had resulted in several bankruptcies. Under the terms of their marriage contract, Louisa retained full control of her possessions, but Abraham received an overly generous allowance of 40,000 guilders a year. The house was redecorated in the latest French style, the height of fashion at the time, with scant regard as to expenditure. After Abraham's death, Louisa left the house to the City of Amsterdam in her will, on condition that it became a museum, bearing both their names.

Most of the house's original furnishings have been retained, together with a sizeable collection of artefacts the couple had built up, many of which from their regular tours of France, where they also had a residence, and various other destinations.

The museum offers a multi-lingual audio tour included in the price of admission. Three floors are open for viewing, in addition to a stunning garden created in the French style of the early 18th century. There is an impressive kitchen in the basement, from where meals were prepared for the first floor dining room, with its magnificent adjoining ballroom and an octagonal conservatory overlooking the garden. Other rooms in the house include a Ladies' salon, Gentleman's parlour, Collector's room, study...

The Willet-Holthuysen Museum is historical canal house which can be visited for those interested to see how wealthy Amsterdam citizens lived during the 17th and 18th century. Opening Hours are 10am to 5pm (Mon-Fri) and 11am to 5pm (Sat-Sun). Entry price is €9 and includes audioguide.

The Willet-Holthuysen property is a double mansion constructed during the late 17th century during the building of the Grachtengordel canals. It is situated directly on Herensgracht. Visitor can view 10-12 rooms which are fashioned with period flooring, ceiling and wall decor and furniture. There are delightful decorative rooms to see as well as basic rooms which were used by house staff. Both are very interesting to see and photography. There is also a very impressive landscape garden at Willet-Holthuysen Museum as well.

Note: It is highly advisable to use the free audio guide which provides a bit of history about the family and the property. It was interesting learning remained intact when the property changed hands and what was altered to meet the taste of the new owners and residents at various points in time.

In the end, I really enjoyed visiting the Willet-Holthuysen Museum. It is very similar to the Van Loon Museum on Keizersgracht but perhaps better because of the audio guide provided for visits to this museum. I'd gladly visit the Willet-Holthuysen Museum again during future visits...

19TH CENTURY HOUSE TURNED INTO A MODERN SEX MUSEUM

Yes, you've read correctly. They turned a 19th century house into a cheap modern sex museum. I could not believe my own eyes when I saw among 19th century furniture modern sex accessories and lots of vulgarity. The museum has great reviews and beautiful pictures on Google but the truth is that it offers only cheap perversion. Had I known it before, I would have never spent 12,5 euro per person for this garbage. They misled us and robbed us of our money. When I made a polite complaint to the guy at the ticket office, he said he didn't choose the exhibiton and "besides it is 2024". Yes, it is. That's why sex museums aren't illegal and you can go to one if you want to. But we didn't want to go to the sex museum, we wanted to visit a historical house. We paid a lot for the exact opposite of what we wanted. We were totally disgusted. (And take note that they don't even warn families with young children about what's inside. I saw a family with a preschool child, I don't think the parents were aware of the exhibition.)

I took some pictures of the vulgarity you can find inside Willet-Holthuysen Museum. See for yourself what this place really is. I would never recommend it even to my...