Allard Pierson Museum of Antiquities

A small but fascinating museum of antiquities right in the heart of Amsterdam at Rokin. Highly recommended when you are, or live in, Amsterdam.

The current exhibition ("Open kaart – van atlas tot streetmap") shows a variety of maps and atlases starting from the 15th century until now (and plans of the future). I always loved (historical) maps, so I enjoyed this exhibition very much.
The museum itself is relatively quiet, but after visiting more populated museums I would only see that as a positive thing.

Interesting exhibition, pleasant museum with an amazing atmosphere. Take time to visit it.

A small museum; however, this is a museum of quality over quantity. This museum focuses on the cultural and social activities and contributions of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian peoples. Each piece has detailed information on what the object is and how it was used.

If you have a keen sense of archeology , then there is an area where you can piece together shards of pottery from a dig in Amsterdam. Great for kids! And the staff likes to interact with the public. So, don't be shy!

The building itself has some lovely views of the canals and the typical street scenes of Amsterdam. And because the museum is centrally located and not busy, it's the perfect place for getting a bit of culture between meals or visiting other parts of the city. The temporary exhibition shows the social life of Amsterdam through the ages.

When this review was written, they were doing some renovations and to compensate for the closed off areas, they gave us a free drink coupon for the museum cafe.

Definitely worth a visit!

This is a little visited but centrally located fantastic museum for antiquities.

The current exhibition on Maps is detailed, interesting and fascinating. I really enjoyed the permanent exhibition too. Highly recommended.

Superb collection of antiquities, very well displayed with good explanations in English and Dutch. And not crowded :)

One of my favorite museums in Amsterdam, not very busy or touristy. It is in a beautiful building. The staff is kind. You can go on a journey through history and time, see many archeological wonders here from Egypt ( they got mummies!) to Ancient Greece to Rome and more. They have various exhibitions going on. They also have a gift shop with interesting books and souvenirs.
The museum closes at 5 pm. You can easily spend a few hours here. If you have a museum card entrance is free.
The photos are from the exhibition of European cross roads tracing immigration in Europe (dec 2017). It was very interesting to see how earlier tribes were moving around, influencing each other and how their cultures were merging and morphing.

Fantastic exhibits in Dutch and English. A nice cafe and gift shop, so you can rest your feet and then keep exploring.

It’s actually very nice. A quiet place in the most busy area of Amsterdam.

Wonderful museum! Got lucky to enjoy it during an Art Nouveau exhibit! Strongly recommend a visit!

Lovely museum with parameters collection about old Egypt and Rome. At the moment there is a beautiful exposition about woman in Art Nouveau titled Godesses of Art Nouveau.

The displays were amazing but most objects were copies. This museum did inspire though, there were Egyptian, Greek and Roman sections. I would return on a cooler day though, it was warm and stuffy inside. I would also warm English speakers, there was very little in English. The majority of the displays were only in Dutch.

It looked like a daughter of Leiden archeological museum. Small but a good collection worth visiting! Had Roman, Greek, Egypt and other collections

This museum has a huge collection and you can find objects from the Egyptian times until the middle age. The last part is focused on Amsterdam so this is also very interested to learn more about the city. On top of this there are the temporary exhibitions. Everything is also written in English.

Fantastic collections presented in an excellent fashion.
The Allard Pierson collection of antiquities from the stone age through to early modern artefacts was intruiging, intellectually stimulating, and, impressive in both its scope and contextual presentation. The curating team have done a fantastic job presenting the display collection in a context that is both sensitive to origin and collection of the objects, and stimulating in the debate that it provokes.
The current temporary exhibition of cartography was particularly interesting and provided a depth that anyone with an interest in cartography should find rewarding. The maps of the development of the city of amsterdam were a personal highlight, and embellished on the story told by the grachtsmuseum, albeit at a far more independent pace.
I would definitely recommend the permanent collection to anyone with an interest in the ancient history of Egypt, particularly religion and the development of funerary rites. The collection of Greek ceramics is equally enjoyable, what it lacks in scale compared to the Louvre, it more than compensates for the effectiveness of the presentation. The Olympic victory amphorae is a singularly charming piece for the animation of its artistry.

Great museum, liked a lot the Egypt collection.

This is a small museum with a good collection of antiquities for browsing. It is near the center of town, so you can walk to it from the fashionable spui area. If you go on a Saturday, you may be able to do some archeology putting together pottery found in the canals of Amsterdam.

Visited the cafe, very nice and classic environment. Serving excellent niche ice teas and all the different coffee varieties.

The temporary exhibitions on Bes and Amsterdam are very well designed, and provide a smooth experience. The Classical Antiquity section, on the other hand, is in the middle of renovation - so you have to build your own path.
The bookshop has some really good books on typography. My special thanks to the erudite Mr. Vincent whom we found very helpful and friendly.