Royal Palace of Amsterdam
City hall, first museum, royal palace — the same Dutch Golden Age building has been all three.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Amsterdam offline.
Jacob van Campen designed it in 1648 as a large-scale new stadhuis for the Dutch Republic, sunk into marshy ground on 13,659 wooden piles. Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte turned the public floors into Amsterdam's first museum, then claimed the whole building as his royal residence. After Napoleon's fall it passed to the Dutch Royal House. Those same public floors are still open today.
What to look for
- Works of art installed across the public rooms — recorded and copied by visiting artists since the building opened in 1655
- The building's axis on Dam Square, placed directly opposite the War Memorial
- The Nieuwe Kerk immediately alongside it — two of Amsterdam's most consequential buildings sharing the same corner
Public floors function as a museum and are open most days of the year; expect closures when the building is in royal use.
Royal Palace of Amsterdam is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Amsterdam, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Amsterdam pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Amsterdam
- RijksmuseumOne million objects collected over 200 years — and the 8,000 on display include the Dutch Golden Age painters who changed what art could be.
- Amstel RiverAmsterdam literally means "Amstel Dam" — the city takes its name from a medieval dam built across this river.
- Van Gogh MuseumThe world's largest Van Gogh collection exists because his sister-in-law spent years refusing to let his unsold work disappear.
- WeespA town that Holland deliberately over-fortified — then flooded on purpose to hold back armies.
- Johan Cruyff ArenaThe Netherlands' largest stadium exists because Amsterdam lost the 1992 Olympics bid to Barcelona — and built something better anyway.
- Defence Line of Amsterdam (Stelling van Amsterdam)Dutch engineers turned the polder itself into a weapon: flood the fields to about 30 centimetres — too shallow for boats to cross — and Amsterdam becomes an island.