Van Loon Museum

This magnificent building owned by the Van Loon family trust has a rich and storied history and is one of the few remaining examples of authentic Dutch golden age homes in Amsterdam. It was rented by renowned Rembrandt apprentice Ferdinand Bol soon after its construction in 1671 but passed on to different owners over the centuries until it was purchased in 1884 by the Van Loon family whose most illustrious ancestor Willem van Loon co-founded the Dutch East India Company. Although the family was one of the city's wealthiest, they cultivated a tradition of opening up their home to show off its splendour and this tradition has survived to this day. View 17th-century portraits, period furniture, 18th-century Dutch porcelain, spectacular wall murals, a centuries-old working kitchen and a spacious manicured garden all in the centre of Amsterdam. As you walk around its sumptuous rooms you might even run into one of the Van Loons who still live upstairs. They'll tell you to have a seat on one of the priceless sofas to truly enjoy the experience - something for which you'd no doubt be arrested at other local museums.