Hermitage Amsterdam

Getty Images/iStockphoto

H'Art Museum

Top choice in Southern Canal Ring

Formerly a branch of St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, H'Art Museum cut ties with Russia and now operates as an independent museum. Blockbuster temporary exhibitions show works from H'art's vast treasure trove; the Outsider Gallery also has temporary shows. I Amsterdam and Museum cards allow free entrance or a discount, depending on the exhibition.

Admission includes a free audioguide; come before 11am to avoid the lengthiest queues. There's a pleasant cafe/restaurant inside the museum, as well as Dignita Hoftein in the garden. Flash photography isn't permitted.

The building was formerly a retirement home (for 'elderly' women aged over 50!).

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • AMSTERDAM - OCTOBER 3: Van Gogh museum building outstanding with design architectured in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on October 3, 2015.; Shutterstock ID 415294189; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Van Gogh Museum POI

    Van Gogh Museum

    1.03 MILES

    This wonderful museum traces Van Gogh's life and artistic development via the world's largest collection of his work. More than 200 canvases are on…

  • Picnic in Vondelpark in afternoon light.

    Vondelpark

    0.91 MILES

    Attracting over 12 million visitors per year, Amsterdam’s favorite playground is the green expanse of Vondelpark, with its 116 acres (47 hectares) of…

  • February 13, 2018: Queue of people waiting to enter the Anne Frank museum house, with a passing tour boat on the canal.

    Anne Frank Huis

    1.03 MILES

    Visiting the Anne Frank Huis is one of Amsterdam's most profound experiences. Tragically, of the 107,000 Jewish adults and children deported from the…

  • Rijksmuseum with tulips in Amsterdam..NOTE: dated image - "iamamsterdam" sign has been removed from outside museum.

    Rijksmuseum

    0.84 MILES

    The Netherlands’ top treasure house, the Rijksmuseum (pronounced ‘rikes’), is among the world's finest art museums. With over 1.5km of galleries, it packs…

  • May 18, 2018: Exterior of the Rembrandt House Museum in the old Jewish quarter of Amsterdam.

    Museum het Rembrandthuis

    0.29 MILES

    Housed in Rembrandt's former home on lively Jodenbreestraat, this evocative museum provides an unparalleled insight into one of the Netherlands’ greatest…

  • The famous stained glass windows of Sint Janskerk ( saint John Church )of Gouda abound in political symbolism, reproducing figures and events of the time, and use biblical events to refer to the conflict between Spanish Catholics and Dutch Protestants that led to the Dutch Uprising of 1572.

    Sint Janskerk

    25.83 MILES

    Impressive for both its size and its magnificent stained-glass windows, Sint Janskerk had chequered beginnings: previous incarnations of the building…

  • Details from traditional fisherman village open-air museum (Zuiderzeemuseum), Netherland.; Shutterstock ID 1233901861; Your name (First / Last): Evan Godt; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Netherlands destination page

    Zuiderzeemuseum

    28.7 MILES

    This captivating museum consists of two sections, 300m apart: open-air Buitenmuseum, with more than 130 rebuilt and relocated dwellings and workshops, and…

  • Anti-Hitler propoganda, display at the Verzetmuseum, Plantage Kerklaan 61a.

    Verzetsmuseum

    0.47 MILES

    The museum of the Dutch Resistance brings the horror of German occupation in WWII vividly alive, using personal stories, letters, artefacts, films and…

View more attractions

Nearby Southern Canal Ring attractions

1. Gijsbert Dommer Huis

0.08 MILES

This handsome greystone house is known dramatically as the 'House with the Blood Stains'. Six-time mayor and diplomat Coenraad van Beuningen lost his…

2. Blauwbrug

0.1 MILES

Built in 1884, this highly decorated stone bridge replaced an old, blue (hence the name) wooden crossing that had connected these shores of the Amstel…

3. Magere Brug

0.12 MILES

Dating from the 1670s, the nine-arched 'Skinny Bridge' has had several incarnations, first in timber and later in concrete. It has a hand-operated central…

4. Joods Historisch Museum

0.15 MILES

In this beautifully restored complex of four Ashkenazic synagogues from the 17th and 18th centuries, displays show the history of Jews in the Netherlands,…

5. Museum Willet-Holthuysen

0.15 MILES

This exquisite canal house was built in 1687 for Amsterdam mayor Jacob Hop, then remodelled in 1739. It's named after Louisa Willet-Holthuysen, who…

6. Dockworker Statue

0.17 MILES

Mari Andriessen's Dockworker statue (1952), a monumental, aghast-looking figure, was commissioned to commemorate the general strike that began among…

7. Stopera

0.18 MILES

This curved waterside building is called Stopera because it houses both the stadhuis (city hall) and the opera and ballet hall, aka Muziektheater. It…

8. NAP Visitors Centre

0.2 MILES

This fascinating display was closed for repairs at the time of research, but shows the ins and outs of Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP; Normal Amsterdam…