Museum Van Loon: a canal house and its garden in Amsterdam

Museum Van Loon, at Keizersgracht 672, is one of the few large houses in the canal ring still furnished as it was when its residents lived there. Built in 1672 to designs by the architect Adriaen Dortsman, its first tenant was the painter Ferdinand Bol, a pupil of Rembrandt. The Van Loon family, whose ancestor Willem van Loon was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company in 1602, moved in in 1884 and opened the house to the public in 1973. The museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm; an adult ticket costs €17.50, and entry is free with the Museumkaart or the I amsterdam City Card. Allow about 1 to 1.5 hours for the reception rooms, the basement kitchen and the garden, plus a break at the museum café.

Highlights

The garden and the coach house

Behind the house lies a garden laid out in 17th-century style, with clipped box hedges, closed off at the far end by the classical facade of the former coach house, also designed by Dortsman. The coach house, which faces the Kerkstraat, remained the family's private property until 2009 before joining the museum: house, garden and coach house once again form a complete ensemble, which the museum presents as unique in Amsterdam.

The state rooms

Blue room, red room, bird room: the rooms on the main floor have kept their panelling, their chandeliers and the family's furniture. On the walls, the portrait collection goes back to the 16th century, including the portrait of Willem van Loon by Michiel van Mierevelt (1612) and Jan Miense Molenaer's painting of the wedding of Willem van Loon and Margaretha Bas (1637).

The basement kitchen

At canal level, the tiled kitchen and the scullery show the other side of the house: this is where the domestic staff worked. The museum also displays servants' liveries and the family's silver and porcelain.

The staircase and its banister

In the entrance hall, the brass banister of the staircase bears the intertwined monograms of Abraham van Hagen and his wife, born Trip, who owned the house in the 18th century. This detail is a reminder that the Van Loons were only the last in a long line of wealthy occupants.

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