National Maritime Museum draws crowds after reopening

AMSTERDAM - Following its reopening on October 4, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, the National Maritime Museum, attracted nearly 70,000 visitors to the museum. Especially during the second half of the month, many people used their Fall break from school to check out the institution. The museum has one of the largest maritime collections in the world. The top pieces from its treasure trove are currently spotlighted in a series of fascinating interactive exhibits which invite viewers to experience five centuries of maritime history: through masterpieces by Dutch maritime painters (The Paintings) and through personal snapshots telling real human stories (The Photo Albums), each exhibit presents its own, unique atmosphere. The hall that is home to The Globes is packed full of four centuries of cartography, while The Glass, Silver and Porcelain exhibition is intimately arranged around a full, festively decorated banquet table at which you can just hear the soft clink of glasses and the clatter of cutlery. At the quay alongside the museum, visitors can come aboard the replica of the famous East Indiaman Amsterdam, lost off the English coast on her maiden voyage in 1749.